Avatar Aang and The Last Airbenders
by keepitinajar
Summary: It's seven years after the end of the war and plans are well underway towards the foundation of Republic City. Aang and Katara take the leap to move to the North and start a whole new life there, but what they find along the way changes their lives in ways they could never have anticipated. Could it be that Aang isn't the last airbender after all? Kataang
1. Homecoming

Aang breathed in deeply through his nose, allowing cool air to fill his lungs. The temperature was dropping with every passing minute, but he didn't mind; the colder it got, the closer it meant he was.

Appa groaned below him, sensing that they were nearing familiar territory. "Yeah boy, we're almost there. Almost home," he said, patting Appa's great head, a smile forming at the corners of his mouth.

It had been almost five months since he had left the Southern Water Tribe. The four nations were celebrating seven war-free years, and as such it was important for the young Avatar appear at celebrations, make speeches, attend meetings and see to other general peace keeping duties.

Rebuilding the world after a century of war was no easy task; at first, Aang was shocked and almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that had to be done. A part of him had expected everything to magically resolve itself once he had defeated the so-called 'Phoenix King'. He quickly learned that this wasn't the case.

One hundred years of war had left the world in complete disarray: environmentally, economically, politically and socially. As the Avatar, it was Aang's job to restore balance to the devastated world.

Naturally, Avatar Aang had risen to the task. Over the past seven years he had worked tirelessly to undo the damage of the war. Of course, none of it would have been possible without Katara by his side every step of the way. Not only had she been his moral support and his rock when everything seemed overwhelming, but she was also an extremely valuable asset in the restoration effort.

Katara had a natural ability with people and conflict resolution. Coupled with her ingrained need to help people, Katara was invaluable when it came to dealing with the people and had helped Aang deal with difficult situations on multiple occasions. She had proved herself so skilled, that she had been appointed as the head liaison between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes. Along with Sokka at the head of the Southern Water Tribe redevelopment project, Katara's home began to return to its former glory.

Aang smiled to himself as he thought about how hard Katara had worked to get to this point. Katara's immigration scheme was a true stroke of genius: along with Master Pakku, she had been able to encourage many skilled waterbenders, tradesmen and families to emigrate from the North Pole to help rebuild and recolonise the Southern Water Tribe.

In just a few years, they had reunited the scattered villages throughout the South Pole and were well on the way to rebuilding the great southern water tribe. Aang was incredibly proud of her; his chest swelled whenever he talked to others about about Katara of the Southern Water Tribe.

The smile on Aang's lips widened as he caught the first glimmer of sun reflecting off the snow-covered buildings. "Nearly there, buddy!" he cheered in excitement.

It had been possibly the longest five months of his life. Usually Katara would have been right there by his side when he had to take trips like this, but this time she really was needed to stay in the South Pole to run operations and make sure some new arrivals from the North settled in smoothly.

Katara especially hated when they were separated for extended periods of time. The last time this had happened Aang had been gone for three months, and when he returned, he was about foot taller and his voice was an octave lower.

"Who is this man and what has he done with the Aang I know?" Katara had asked when she first caught sight of him, her eyes wide. But she eventually grew to love the changes, although she was a bit put out that she had missed the worst of his squeaking phase.

Aang guided Appa down to land outside the city gates, where a group of waterbenders greeted him warmly.

"Avatar Aang! We were hoping you'd be back soon. How was your trip?" one of them asked.

"It was just fine, everything went smoothly. It's good to be back though. Could you tell me where Katara might be?" Aang asked, arching his eyebrows hopefully.

"Oh yes, at around this time she must be training with the young waterbenders," the man replied, giving Aang a hint of a knowing smile.

"Great," Aang beamed, "Would you mind taking Appa for me?" The man hesitated momentarily, glancing up at the enormous sky bison. "Don't worry, he's very friendly," Aang assured.

"Oh y-yes of course." He nodded to a few of his men and they began to lead Appa off.

"Make sure he has plenty of hay!" Aang called after them, then turned back to the man who was beaming once more.

"Avatar Aang, welcome back."

Aang smiled and nodded his head respectfully to him before he turned back to the gates, which were now being opened. He took in a deep breath and walked into the city. Looking around, he noticed that it was designed similarly to that of the Northern Water Tribe, which made sense since many of the architects would have been northerners. One distinct difference was that there were roads instead of canals, which Aang was sure Sokka was pleased about.

"Aang!"

"Avatar Aang!"

"He's back!"

"Welcome back, Avatar Aang!"

The people called out to him as he walked down the street and he smiled and waved politely in reply. At first his fame was a bit of an adjustment to make; it seemed everywhere he went people knew his name and the story of how he had defeated Firelord Ozai. Katara had seemed concerned that it would all go to his head, especially since he'd amassed some fan clubs with a majority of female members. But Aang took it in his stride, as always. Besides, he knew what would happen if he behaved the way he did the last time, when he had a group of female admirers on Kyoshi island.

With a spring in his step, he continued walking towards the centre of the city where aspiring young waterbenders underwent their training. Just as she'd had a knack for teaching him, Katara was especially skilled at teaching the children, and she absolutely loved it.

Aang rounded a corner and came to the wall of a courtyard. Through a window hole in the ice, Aang saw a group of children lined up along a channel of water that ran through the courtyard. They were moving smoothly back and forth, trying to push the water.

"Yes, good, you guys are doing great! Just feel the flow of energy…"

Aang's heart raced as he heard her voice for the first time in months and saw her moving through the kids, adjusting their stance when necessary. He didn't think he'd ever not be amazed when he saw her like this, so in control and so passionate. She truly was remarkable to him.

Propelled by his thumping heart and a weightless feeling in his limbs, he continued along the wall until he came to the entrance of the courtyard. Katara didn't notice him, as she was helping a child at the opposite end of the line.

All Aang wanted to do was to run over to her and pull her into his arms, but before he had the chance, he noticed a little boy nearest to him was struggling, his face screwed up in frustration. Aang's features softened and he walked over to the boy.

"Are you having trouble, buddy? Just relax, you're standing a bit too stiffly," Aang advised and gently urged the boy to soften his stance. "Ok, good. Now feel the energy flowing through you and into the water. Like you and the water are one." The boy looked up at Aang with apprehension and Aang nodded encouragingly. Then the boy took in a deep breath and began to move fluidly back and forth. Slowly but surely, the water began to move with him.

"I did it!" he exclaimed, his face lighting up with glee. "I can't believe I did it! Thank you, Avatar Aang!"

At the sound of Aang's name, Katara immediately snapped up from the girl she was helping. Slowly, she turned around to face him, her eyes full of stunned disbelief. As soon as she saw him standing there with his warm, loving smile, she couldn't help but smile back, her whole body filling up with warmth.

Aang smiled at Katara, feeling their connection become stronger as soon as their eyes met. They didn't even need to say anything, it was all there right in front of each other and they knew. Aang knew he was home.

**Welcome to my first Avatar fic, woo! It's been a while since I've written a story but I am so in love with the Avatar fandom and the Kataang pairing right now. This first chapter had a lot of background information, sorry, but the story will be moving right along soon! Please keep reading, I think you'll really enjoy the story. Let me know what you think!**


	2. The Proposition

**Thanks for all the positive responses to the first chapter ^_^ Here is the next one! I have a couple stocked up so hopefully you won't have to wait too long between updates, woohoo. Enjoy~**

"Katara," Aang finally said after a few moments.

"Aang," Katara responded, her cheeks tinging pink.

Aang grinned and strode over to her, pulling her into a tight embrace, enveloping his arms around her. They sighed into each other, finally feeling whole again. Whenever they reunited like this, Aang was reminded of how much he was missing when they were separated for extended periods of time. When he pulled back, he was a little confused to see that Katara's expression didn't match his wide grin. In fact, she looked a little mad.

"Why didn't you send me a message to tell me that you were coming back?" she said crossly, whacking him a few times on the shoulder.

"Ah! Ah!" Aang winced, holding his arms up defensively. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I wanted to surprise you!" Katara hit him a few more times, resulting in cheeky giggles from the children. It must have been quite amusing to Katara giving a good beating to the Avatar.

"Aw, Sifu Katara, can't you forgive him?" a little girl asked.

"Yeah, Sifu Katara," Aang pleaded as he took another blow.

Katara quirked an eyebrow at him then rolled her eye. "Alright, I guess I can," she said and kissed his cheek. "Welcome home," she added, a smile now on her lips. It was really impossible for her to stay mad at him for too long, especially when he grinned at her like that.

"So…does this mean that class is over?" one of the kids asked, beaming expectantly.

"Oh alright then, just this once we can finish early. Don't forget to practice at home!" Katara called after them, but they probably couldn't hear as they were sprinting away, laughing and shouting.

Aang chuckled as they left. "You're really good with them, they're going to make great waterbenders someday. You're an excellent teacher, Katara," he said, nodding.

"Oh please, Aang, tell me something I don't know," Katara grinned, although her face flushed a bit at the compliment. "I'm so glad you're back. Let's take a walk and you can tell me all about your trip."

Over the next hour Aang filled Katara in on all that he had done on his trip. How he had visited many old friends and made many new ones, how Toph's metalbending academy was turning into one of the most prestigious bending schools in the entire world, how Zuko and Mai were going with their wedding plans…

"Can you believe it? Zuko getting married?" Katara asked, shaking her head in disbelief when Aang mentioned the couple. They had now made their way to one of their favourite spots in the city. They were in one of the tallest buildings that overlooked the city, sitting on the ledge of a balcony. Aang was leaning against the wall of the building and Katara sat between his legs, her back against his chest.

"Yeah, seems like just yesterday he was traipsing across the entire world trying to capture me! But they're good for each other, they're really happy."

"Mmm," Katara hummed in agreement. She sighed and closed her eyes, settling into his chest and pulling his arms loosely around her. For a moment she just listened to Aang's breathing, allowing herself to become lost in his presence. Sometimes that was all she needed.

"What about the plans for Republic City? Did you and Zuko talk about it?" Katara asked after a little while.

"Yeah, we did. We've been looking around at potential places to build the city. A place where all four nations, benders and non-benders alike can live together in harmony…that's the dream, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically and sighed. "It's a big project and it'll be a lot of work…a lot of meetings and conversations need to take place if we're going to pull this off."

"It's an incredible idea, Aang. I know you can make it work. And next time you go to plan it there's no way you're leaving me behind!" she insisted.

"No of course not, I wouldn't dream of it. In fact your input was sorely missed this time around. You're very smart, Katara." Aang grinned as he leaned forward to murmur the last part close to her ear. Over the years Aang learned that girls loved compliments, and Katara was no exception. And since Aang had no difficulty finding nice things to say about her, it was a win-win situation.

"Oh am I now?" Katara smiled wryly and shifted herself around to face him. She fiddled with the beads of his necklace and arched her eyebrows up at him. "And what else am I?"

"Well, let me think. You're the kindest, sweetest person I've ever met…you are breathtakingly beautiful…you make me laugh…" With each compliment Aang placed a gentle kiss on her forehead or her cheeks, grinning internally as he felt how hot her face was getting. "Your breath always smells nice, even in the mornings, you are a total waterbending legend, you are deeply passionate about everything you do…and…" he trailed off, his lips lingering close to hers.

"And?"

"You're mine."

Instantly Katara closed the remaining distance between them, pressing her lips to his. She sat up on her crossed legs and wrapped her arms around his neck. Aang smiled into the kiss, placing his hands on her waist and holding her close. Apparently he still knew just what to say.

**OoOoOo**

Aang let out a groan of exhaustion as he flopped down onto his bed that night. Due to the accumulated tiredness he felt from the past few months, the long journey it was to the South Pole, and staying up well into the night talking and laughing with Katara, Sokka and Chief Hakoda, the Avatar was very tired. Tired, but happy.

He opened an eye as Katara came into their room. She moved towards a mirror in a corner of the room, running a brush through her long hair. Aang pushed himself up to lean against the headboard and watched her absently, thinking to himself.

Seeing Aang's reflection in the mirror, Katara paused mid-stroke as she noticed the thoughtful look on his face. She knew him well enough to know he was thinking about something important. "What's on your mind?" she asked, setting the brush down and turning to face him.

"Hm?" Aang hummed, snapping out of his thoughts. "Oh…oh, nothing, I'm just daydreaming….um, nightdreaming," he said and gave a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

Katara raised an eyebrow quizzically, but decided to drop it. Whatever it was could wait until morning. "Alright then, I think it's time to go to sleep," she decided. Aang must have been tired at this stage. She took a moment to look at him sitting on the bed. Just by him being there, she felt safe and secure and loved. "Oh Aang, I'm so happy you're home."

_Home._

That word triggered something in Aang's mind, and all he'd been thinking about came rushing back to him. His brow creased. "That's the thing, isn't it?" he asked cryptically.

Katara tilted her head to the side. "What is?"

"Home."

"I'm not following…" A slight frown creased her brow and she moved to sit next to him on the bed, placing a hand on top of his. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I've just been thinking. I mean, it's been in the back of my mind for a while now. I know the Southern Water Tribe has been my 'home base', so to speak, for the past few years, but…it's not my home, Katara," he said, raising his eyes to hers.

Katara blinked her eyes a couple of times as his words settled in her ears. "What are you saying, Aang? You don't want to be here?"

"No, no, no, it's not that," Aang insisted. "It's just…I mean, think about it. I'm the Avatar. I'm supposed to bring harmony and balance to the world. Does it really make sense for me to have roots in the _South Pole_, practically the most remote location in the entire world?" he asked and shook his head, continuing in a softer tone. "Don't get me wrong, I love it here, but the only reason I think of here as my home, is because of you. You're my home, Katara. Whenever I think of home, I think of you. And that's why…Katara, I want you to move to the United Republic with me."


	3. The Decision

Katara's breath caught in her throat as she heard Aang's request. Move away from the South Pole? Her home? After all the work she'd done? All she'd built? "Aang, I…I…"

"I know, Katara. It's a lot to ask," Aang said and hung his head. "It's just, I thought it would be good for us. I wouldn't have to go away all the time, we'd be closer to all our friends—Sokka was even talking about heading north too."

"But Aang this is my home…"

"But we could make a new home—together." Aang looked up at her, a hopeful smile forming on his face. "Just think about it, we could really build something great together!" No doubt Aang had indulged in this fantasy many times before—of picking up and going to this new and exciting place, starting a life, starting a family…

Katara pursed her lips together, lowering her eyes. She understood where he was coming from but it was just too much to process right now. "Aang, I think…"

"Yes?" Aang asked hopefully.

"I think you should sleep in the other room tonight…"

Aang's face fell. "Oh. Yeah, ok then…" He sighed and pushed himself up, heading towards the door. Katara bit her lip and stood up, placing a hand on his cheek.

"I'm not mad at you for this. It's just…well, it's a lot to take in, I need to give it some thought. Alone," she said, hoping he would understand.

"Ok, I get it. Besides, what's another night alone?" Aang asked, smiling wanly. He had meant for that to sound light, but realised that it probably made things worse, so he decided it was time to go. "Goodnight, Katara," he said and slipped out of the room, leaving Katara standing there biting her lip and wondering what had just happened.

Somehow Aang managed to fall asleep sometime in the late hours of the night, but it was a troubled and restless sleep. That was probably why he woke easily when his bedsheets began to rustle. "What the…" he mumbled.

"Shh, it's me."

"Katara?" he asked groggily.

"No, it's Sokka. Of course it's me," Katara growled as she shuffled into the bed and huddled into him.

"So…does this mean you're not upset anymore?" Aang asked, still a bit dazed and confused, but he shifted himself over to make room for her regardless.

"Aang, honey, just shh," Katara said and planted a silencing kiss on his lips. "Let future Katara and Future Aang deal with that…issue. Can we forget about it for now and just sleep? Please?" she whispered into the dark.

Aang sighed in agreement, feeling some relief settle over him. It seemed they would be able to set aside their little argument until the morning. Aang was too tired to do anything else anyway.

"Alright, I can do that. Cummere." He slid his arm around her and she nuzzled into his chest, holding loosely onto his shirt.

It had been far too long for them to spend their first night together apart. Aang was glad that Katara had come back to him; he'd sleep better, that was for sure. He sighed and snuggled into her, quickly drifting off to sleep.

When Aang woke the next morning he was disappointed, but not altogether surprised, to find that he was alone. Part of him wondered if he was still in the Earth Kingdom and that his return was just a dream, but a freezing cold breeze reminded him that this was not the case.

Yawning and stretching, the Avatar lifted himself from bed and went about his morning routine. He did his morning meditation, then pulled his robes on and went to the bathroom to wash his face and shave. Recently he'd been toying with the idea of growing a beard, but that subject would probably have to be discussed with Katara first.

Finally, when he was ready, he walked down the hallway to the kitchen where he found Sokka and Chief Hakoda sitting around the table and Katara fixing up breakfast in the kitchen. Whatever she was making, it smelt nice.

"Greetings, Aang. I thought you were supposed to be the morning person of the group?" Sokka smirked.

"Heh, I must still be adjusting to the time difference," Aang said bashfully.

"Well, you're just in time for breakfast," Katara said as she ladled out porridge into bowls. Thanks to increased trade between the nations, the Southern Water Tribe was able to access more different kinds of food—much to Aang's relief. "Morning, sweetie," Katara said as she handed Aang his bowl.

"Oh, morning, uh, sweetie," Aang said, slightly perplexed. Honestly he'd been expecting a bit of a cold shoulder from Katara, but apparently she was keeping her true feelings well hidden. Perhaps for the sake of discretion in front of her father and brother.

Sokka carried the conversation throughout breakfast, oftentimes talking with his mouth full, but Aang barely noticed. He ate his breakfast in relative silence, occasionally laughing a bit at Sokka's jokes. Most of his attention was really on Katara. He studied her face, trying to read it to get some clue as to what she might have been thinking or feeling, but she was a closed book. Finally they were all finished and Aang offered to do the washing up.

"Welp, when someone else offers to do the dishes, I won't be the guy who stops him," Sokka said happily.

"Lucky you, Sokka, you can get to work sooner," Hakoda grinned and pulled a squirming Sokka out the door with him, waving farewell to Aang and Katara.

The kitchen felt much emptier once the two men were gone, leaving Aang and Katara alone. Katara helped Aang collect up the plates and they headed outside to a tank of water where the washing up was done.

"It's going to be great when the entire city has indoor plumbing," Aang said conversationally.

"Mm," Katara hummed distractedly. She was looking around at their surroundings, clearly thinking.

Aang crouched down by the water tank and started soaping and washing the dishes. The water was, like everything else in the South Pole, freezing.

"So…have you thought about my, uh, proposition?" he finally asked.

Katara blinked and pulled herself from her thoughts. She settled her gaze on Aang, looking over his features.

Sometimes she still couldn't believe how much he'd changed over the years. His once smooth face had become more angular, all his edges more defined. He'd finally grown taller than her a few years ago, and his shoulders had become broad and strong. But the difference Katara noticed most was in his eyes.

He hadn't lost anything per se—the fun and innocence of the boy she had found in the ice was still there. But there was more. There was patience and thoughtfulness and kindness…and also heartache, maturity, and the responsibility for the entire world. Sometimes it was easy for Katara to forget this, but he wasn't an innocent kid anymore.

She sighed. "Yes," she said.

Aang dropped the dish he was working on into the water and looked up at her expectantly. "And…?" he prompted.

"I had a dream last night," she said vaguely.

"Um…ok. What was it about?" Aang asked, deciding to go along with wherever Katara was going with this.

"It was about us—but we were older. We had a beautiful house with a garden and a family, and—" she chuckled softly "—you had a beard…and then Momo and Appa started talking but that's besides the point," she said and shook her head. "Here's the thing though. In my dream…we weren't surrounded by ice and snow," she finished, biting her bottom lip.

Aang arched his eyebrows in interest. "Oh—really?" he asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

Katara laughed shortly, shaking her head. "Yeah, really. Which is so strange because I've always pictured my future full of snow and glaciers. But instead everything was green and warm and, well, different…you didn't play some sort of Avatar mind trick on me?" she asked, quirking a sceptic eyebrow.

"No way, Avatar's honour," Aang swore solemnly. "So…was it a good kind of different? Did you like it?" he asked, toeing his luck.

Katara closed her eyes, picturing the images from her dream. She smiled and hugged herself loosely. "Yeah. Yeah, I did." She sighed and opened her eyes, coming back to reality. "Walk with me?" she asked Aang.

"Sure," Aang replied and he put the last dish out to dry. He straightened up and instinctively reached for Katara's hand.

"Aargh!" she grimaced, snapping her hand away.

"What? What is it?" Aang asked, shocked.

"Your hand's still wet, Aang!" Katara complained.

"Oops, sorry," Aang blushed. He quickly sent a blast of warm air over Katara's hand and then on his own before reaching for her hand again. "Mm. Toasty," he said and grinned.

Katara giggled and shook her head, squeezing his hand. "Come with me, I want to show you something." Aang nodded in agreement and allowed her to lead him away from the house and into the streets.

"You know, I always thought it was a bit selfish of me to choose this area to build the city of the South Pole. You know this is where my village was? Where I grew up?"

"Yes, I did know that," Aang said. He smiled to himself as he imagined a young Katara running around, laughing and playing amongst the beautiful houses and buildings that sprung up from the ground that had once been occupied by small makeshift huts.

"I mean, logically other locations could have been better. The city could be a little closer to the ocean so we could have better access to the ports. But…I guess I just wanted to make sure that my home wouldn't be forgotten."

Aang nodded in understanding. "That makes sense. Besides, it's beautiful here. If it were closer to the ports, we'd always be getting smoke and ash from the ships, and no one would get any sleep because the engines are so loud," he assured optimistically.

Katara smiled as she was reminded once again that Aang would always remind her of the silver lining of things. "I suppose that's true."

They continued walking together, heading towards the centre of the city. The city was very neatly organised. It was designed to resemble a ripple in a pool, with rings of buildings echoing out from the centre. At the centre was a beautiful water fountain, which Katara had designed herself. The fountain was carved out of marble, by none other than Toph, the greatest earthbender in the world. As they continued walking inwards, Aang could only assume that this was where they were headed. But why, he wondered.

At last they reached the centre of the the middle was a grand fountain which was surrounded by street lamps that were lit in the evening. At night, the flames flickered off the ice and water of the fountain spectacularly—it was truly a sight to behold.

"Here we are," announced Katara.

"Indeed. What is it you wanted to show me?" asked Aang.

"Not many people know this—in fact, only the people from my original village would know—but here is where my family's hut used to be. Right where the fountain is," she said with a nostalgic smile. "I know, I know. How narcissistic of me to build a giant fountain in the spot where I grew up, right?"

"No, I wasn't thinking that all."

Katara looked up at Aang to find nothing but sincerity in his eyes, which gave her the resolution to go on. "So you see…leaving here, leaving this—for good? It's kind of a big deal for me."

"I understand. This place is kind of your baby, isn't it?" Aang asked. Katara definitely had a deep-seated maternal instinct, and it had certainly latched itself onto the city.

Katara laughed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I have become rather fond of it here. I guess it's been a little while since I've been on an adventure. I'm a little… scared," she admitted reluctantly.

"Ah, so that's it, is it? You're scared?" Aang asked.

Katara shrugged, blushing. "I'm comfortable here. It's familiar," she insisted.

"Ooh, I think you've gotten soft, Katara," Aang teased, nudging her playfully. "Come on, Katara, you're a waterbender! You can adapt to anything!"

Katara laughed and sighed. "Yeah. I _am_ a waterbender. I _can _adapt to anything. I do kind of miss having adventures. New places, new people…all that jazz," she admitted with a shrug.

"And you know where there are plenty of those? Up north!" Aang insisted and grinned.

"I suppose we'll find out about that," Katara said and returned his grin. "I don't know why I was so upset about the whole idea last night. You did kind of spring it on me," she said and gave him a reprimanding look.

"Sorry about that," Aang grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's just, it had been in the back of my mind the whole time away and…well, it just sort of slipped out. I'm just really excited about it. You should see it there, Katara. It's breathtaking," he said, letting out a sigh of awe.

"I'll believe that when I see it," Katara laughed. She looked around the town circle and all the people walking through it. She couldn't believe that she would be leaving it all soon. "I'm really going to miss it…. what about my jobs? My responsibilities? Not to brag or anything, but I'm kind of a big deal around here," she said proudly.

Aang chuckled. "I know, _I _brag about you all the time. So now you're kind of a big deal everywhere."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes shining.

"Yup. Well, even more than before when you were 'Katara of the Gaang'. Now you're not only that, you're 'Katara: the girl who reunited the Southern Water Tribe'."

"Wow," Katara breathed.

"And don't worry about your responsibilities. I mean, we're not leaving tomorrow or anything. There will be time to organise everything," Aang assured her.

"Ok. Alright. Great." Katara's head was spinning…but in a good way. With each passing moment she could feel her fear and apprehension slipping away and quickly being replaced by excitement and curiosity. "What's it going to be like?"

Aang beamed at her. "Well that's the point, isn't it? We don't know! "

Katara smiled and nodded, accepting her boyfriend's answer. She couldn't believe it. Soon enough, she would be jumping on a flying bison with the man she loved, off to a new world of possibilities and adventure—just like she had done all those years ago. It usually felt so long ago, but today Katara felt more like that young girl than she had in a long time.

**OoOoOo**

**^_^ hurrah, onwards to adventure~~ or something. **

**Reviews are always appreciated~ I'm finding it a bit hard to get Katara's character just right, so if you have any suggestions I'd be more than happy to hear them.**

**I'll be updating fairly soon, so watch this space! **


	4. Go With the Flow

Neither Katara nor Aang could believe how quickly the day of their departure approached. It was nearly six weeks since Katara had agreed to Aang's proposition, but it felt more like days.

During those six weeks, Aang and Katara had been busy getting everything in order for their departure. It wasn't that Katara didn't have faith in her father's ability to govern the city. She was just very meticulous about every detail and she cared about everyone in the city so much that it could make her a little…neurotic.

"Now, father, are you sure you understand? You _have _to make sure that a team is always ready to pick up deliveries from the port. The people of the city have come to expect high standard of service," Katara said knowledgably.

Hakoda groaned as he stared at the daunting mountain of charts and shipping schedules that Katara had dumped on his desk. "Katara, honey. I've organised and lead countless numbers of raids and battles…I think I can handle a few deliveries."

"It's not just a few deliveries! It's the backbone of the city, of our society, THE ENTIRE FUTURE OF OUR PEOPLE DEPENDS ON YOU!"

"Katara I think you need to calm down…."

"I'M COMPLETELY CALM!" she yelled. However, Katara's bulging eyes and a throbbing vein in her temple suggested that she was not, in fact, 'completely calm'. Aang took this as a sign to perform his avatar duty to intervene and neutralise the situation.

"Katara, sweetie, maybe you should take a break, get some fresh air, what do you think?" he asked, sweeping over and placing his hands on her shoulders, partly for comfort and partly to keep her from attacking. "Your father is perfectly capable; I mean, you're related to him, he can't be completely incompetent," he said soothingly, ignoring the dirty look he earned from Hakoda.

Katara sighed and relaxed her shoulders, Aang's words and presence calming her down somewhat. "I guess you're right. Sorry, father, I know you'll do a great job. This is just really important to me…"

"I understand that," Hakoda nodded. "Just trust me, the city is in good hands," he insisted with a smile.

"See? Nothing to worry about." Aang grinned, pleased that he had diffused the situation. "Now how about a backrub to relieve the stress?"

"Mm, that sounds wonderful, you have magic hands, Aang…" Katara hummed, smiling wistfully as Aang led her out of the room and he grinned as he saluted goodbye to Hakoda.

When they weren't working with Chief Hakoda, Aang and Katara continued to train the young waterbenders. The children were completely distraught when Katara broke the news to them that she would be leaving soon, but she promised that she would find a great waterbending teacher to replace her.

"But nobody is as good as you, Sifu Katara," a small boy wailed and threw himself into the snow.

Katara bit her lip and looked sadly over at Aang. Aang could see that this was probably the hardest part for Katara; she really loved these kids. He walked over to the boy and sat down next to him.

"Gather around kids, I'm going to teach you something," he said softly.

Katara watched Aang curiously, wondering what he was about to do. She admired how the children immediately sat down around him, their full attention on his every word and action. Even she couldn't boast that kind of control over them.

Aang waited for everyone to settle down around him before clearing his throat and beginning to speak. "Well, kids. As you know, water is flexible. It is constantly in motion, forever changing its shape and form."

As Aang spoke, he manipulated some water to float around his hands and to twist and twirl in front of the children's awed faces. "Water is adaptable: it takes the shape of whatever contains it," he continued.

To demonstrate, he made the water flow into his water pouch and then drew some shapes and swirls in the snow with his finger, forming small trenches. He then bent the water out of the pouch to fill the different shaped pools.

"You see?" he asked with a small smile. "The water is just as happy to sit in the triangle as it is in the swirl," he explained, indicating to the pools. "It changes itself easily to fit in with its environment. Just as the water adapts to change, so must you."

Katara bit her lip and brought a hand to her mouth as love for this man filled her up completely and made her giddy. Sometimes he just said things that were so…perfect, and made her fall in love with him all over again. She crouched down next to him and smiled.

"Kids," she said, "things are going to happen to you in your life that might upset or confuse you. But, like Avatar Aang said, you have to learn to take these things in your stride and grow from them."

"Yeah," Aang agreed and nodded. "We're all like little streams. We're just flowing along. Sometimes something might block our path or change our course, but what's important is that we just flow on. That's what is happening to Sifu Katara—her stream is changing course, and she's letting it take her along for the ride," he said, exchanging a brief smile with Katara. " Just remember—you've got to be like the water—just go with the flow." As he said this, he moved his arms around smoothly in a wave pattern, causing the children to giggle and imitate him.

"Look, Aang, we're just like the water," the small boy who had been upset before gurgled as he twisted his body around.

"Yes, yes, very good," Aang laughed.

As the class settled down, a girl who seemed to be slightly older and more serious spoke up. "We understand why you have to leave, Sifu Katara. You've got to flow on with your stream…It has been an honour to learn from you," the girl said and bowed her head sombrely. The rest of the class followed suit until they all had their heads bowed.

Katara felt a lump rise in her throat at the sight. It was partly out of sadness—she would miss these kids so much—but it was also out of happiness and wonder. "The honour is all mine," she whispered and bowed her head in response.

Aang watched the interaction in sheer awe. It was a truly touching moment, warming him from the inside out. "Oh you guys, I can't handle this anymore…bring it in!" he finally erupted.

Katara laughed and was the first to wrap her arms around Aang's midsection, and she was soon joined by the rest of the class who clambered all over the pair of them, holding on tight. She smiled at Aang, who smiled right back. "_Thank you_," she mouthed to him. He simply smiled and kissed her forehead in reply.

Once the kids had come to terms with the fact that Katara would be moving on, Aang and Katara's next job was to find them a new waterbending teacher. After many candidates who didn't meet Katara's criteria, Katara finally chose a middle-aged man from the northern water tribe.

"He has five kids of his own, so dealing with the class shouldn't be too much of a stretch for him," she had explained to Aang. "He also decided to move South because he disagreed with the Northern custom of teaching waterbending to only boys. That gave him serious bonus points."

Eventually it seemed that the only thing left to do was pack. Aang, as usual, barely had anything to pack. All that he owned fit into one small bag, and all that he needed was currently rushing around throwing things into boxes and bags.

"Do you think we'll need towels? What if they don't have towels there?" Katara asked worriedly as she came into the room with an armful of towels.

Aang couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, I'm sure they'll have towels there."

"Hm. We'll take a couple just in case," she decided and set them down into a crate, squishing them down as much as possible. "Hey, you can never be too prepared. Remember the time you ran out of underwear? Bet you wished we had over-packed then," Katara reminded Aang and grinned as he turned a deep shade of scarlet. After that, Aang helped Katara pack without a word of complaint.

All of their things were going to be loaded onto a cargo ship, which meant that they didn't have to worry about overburdening Appa. The ship would transport them to a port near the United Republic. From there, they were to be escorted to the planned location of Republic City, where Firelord Zuko was waiting for them. Everything was planned down to the last detail.

Finally, after all the preparations had been made, the day came.

Aang blinked his eyes open on the morning of their departure and smiled to see and feel Katara lying in his arms. "Morning…today's the day," he murmured and kissed her cheek gently.

"Mm," Katara hummed as she woke and rolled over to face him. "It is, isn't it? Wow." She knew this day was coming, but the reality of it all hadn't fully sunken in yet. "Is there anything in particular you want to do today?"

"Oh I think you know what I want to do…" he replied with a sly grin.

"PENGUINS!" Aang shouted, and his voice echoed across the snowfield where hundreds of penguins huddled and waddled around.

"Shh, Aang, you'll frighten them," Katara laughed.

"Oops, sorry," he whispered apologetically. "I'm just so excited. Do you know how long it's been since we've done this?" he asked giddily.

"Too long, apparently," Katara chuckled. "Well here you go, here's your fish," she said and handed Aang a small fish. Aang grinned happily and headed towards the penguins, cheerful as a schoolboy. Within a few minutes, both he and Katara had mounted a pair of penguins and were at the top of a large slope, poised to slide down.

Katara couldn't help but laugh internally at Aang, who looked just as enthusiastic as he was the first time they had done this.

Aang was practically vibrating with excitement. He looked over to Katara and grinned. "Hey, Katara?"

"Yes?"

"I love you," he said, then took the chance to take off while Katara was blushing and smiling at him. "GO PENGUIN GO!" Aang cried and urged his penguin down the hill. "LAST ONE DOWN IS A SEA PRUNE!" he yelled as he tore down the snow.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Katara cried and quickly set off after him. She lowered herself down as close to her penguin as she could, gaining a little bit of ground on him. She had the advantage of being smaller and lighter than him, but he'd gotten too much of a headstart.

Sneakily, Katara used waterbending to raise a bank out of the snow in front of Aang. The bank curved to the left and veered way off track.

Aang's eyes widened in surprise as the snow rose out of nowhere. For a moment there, he'd forgotten that the entire environment was at the mercy of Katara's waterbending. He quickly veered his penguin just in time to smoothly round the corner; however, they were now hopelessly on course. Aang looked over at Katara, who looked very pleased with herself as she zipped down the hill and overtook him, blowing a kiss his way as she passed.

Aang navigated his penguin down to the bottom of the hill where Katara was perched atop her penguin waiting for him, smug in her victory.

"No fair, you cheated," Aang pouted.

"Mm, 'I love you' too, Mr. Headstart," she replied with a smirk.

"Eheh…." Aang blushed. Suddenly his penguin wriggled around underneath him and threw him off into the snow before waddling away disgruntledly. Katara's penguin followed suit and she was bucked off into Aang's lap. They stared at each other for a moment before laughing. "They didn't seem too happy about that," Aang chuckled.

"I guess we're a bit heavier than when we were kids," Katara giggled. She looked up at Aang and blushed to find him smiling back at her. She bit her lip slightly and laced her fingers around the back of his neck as he leaned forward and slid his lips onto hers. Aang wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her closely to him as he kissed her.

"You don't mind kissing me even though I'm a sea prune?" he asked when he pulled away for air.

"But you're forgetting, Aang. I love sea prunes," Katara grinned and pressed her lips back to his. Aang kissed her back happily, and would have been glad to do so for a long time, but they were interrupted by the sound of a loud horn.

Aang broke the kiss and looked around, wondering what it could be. A black cloud on the horizon provided him with an answer.

"It's the ship," he observed.

"Already?" Katara asked. She looked around the landscape, as if she could drink it all in.

"We'll be back again, it's not forever," Aang assured her. "We have a flying bison, the world's most effective way to travel," he said with a smile. Aang had no doubt that they would be back. He didn't say this, but it was a dream of his to take his future children penguin sledding.

Katara smiled at him, slightly misty-eyed. "We're really doing this."

"We really are."

Katara looked at him for a moment before giving a determined nod. "Ok then. Let's get a move on," she said and got up off his lap.

She gave one last look across the icy plane. "Goodbye penguins," she said quietly.

The port was full of activity and noise when they arrived. Men bustled to and fro, loading and unloading goods from a huge ship in the docking bay. Eventually they found Sokka and Katara's father, who were accompanied by a small farewell party.

As Aang and Katara made their way over, they were somewhat confused to see Sokka had a large suitcase with him and was grinning widely.

Katara groaned. "Oh don't tell me…."

"YEP!" Sokka exclaimed happily, "I'm coming with you! The original Gaang is together again!" He wedged himself in between Katara and Aang and threw his arms over their shoulders. "It'll be just like old times. Nothing but action, drama, suspense, and adventure!" he proclaimed dramatically.

"Oh really?" Katara asked wryly. "Because I remember it a little differently. I remember you complaining about being hungry and getting yourself into ridiculous situations all the time. Remember the cactus juice?"

"Hey…I had my heroic moments!" Sokka protested indignantly.

Aang laughed and put his arm around Sokka's shoulders. "We're happy to have you. What would the Gaang be without the meat and sarcasm guy?" he asked cheerily.

"That's right," Sokka said with a nod.

Across the port, Aang heard a loud bellow. His head whipped around to the sound and his eyes widened in alarm as he saw Appa being pushed onto the ship by a group of men.

"HEY!" he shouted and bolted over, pushing the men away. "What on earth do you think you're doing?" he asked angrily and began untying the restraints that confined his oldest friend. "Appa is _not_ cargo," he said, giving a dark look to one of the men.

"W-we're so s-sorry, we didn't realise," the man stammered and apologised profusely.

Aang glared at the man but then, seeing sincerity in the man's eyes, sighed and shook his head. "Don't let it happen again. And make sure there's plenty of food on board for my friend," he ordered and patted Appa. "I'm so sorry, boy, are you ok?"

Appa gave him a sloppy lick in reply, which put a smile back on Aang's face. He led Appa back to the group, who were watching on in concern.

"Is everything alright?" Katara asked.

"Yes, everything's fine. Just a misunderstanding," Aang explained.

"I'm afraid that might be partly my fault," Hakoda admitted sheepishly. "I told those men to take Appa to the ship…I didn't think they'd interpret it like that."

"It's ok, Chief," Aang insisted. "You're alright, aren't you, buddy?" Aang asked and Appa groaned happily in response. "He hasn't had a good fly in a while, though, so I was thinking that I could fly with him for a while before travelling on the ship. Care to join me, Katara?"

"Of course."

Just then, the ship's horn blared loudly. "I think that's our cue to go." He gave a small smile to Katara, who was preparing for her goodbyes. She said goodbye to the people who had come to see her off before finally coming to her Father.

"I'll miss you, Dad," she said and flung her arms around her Father's neck. "Remember everything I taught you," she insisted.

Hakoda laughed and gave his daughter a squeeze. "And you remember everything _I _taught _you_," he said and released her so he could look at her. "Be kind, be happy, and be careful, wherever you may go." He smiled and touched her nose affectionately.

"Always," Katara replied. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too. I'm so proud of you."

She gave him one last tight hug before she stepped backwards to Aang and slipped her hand in his. She watched as Sokka said goodbye to their father with a firm handshake and hug. A few tears escaped her eyes, which she quickly wiped away with her sleeve.

Aang gave Katara a reassuring smile and her hand hand a gentle squeeze. "Thank you for everything, Chief Hakoda," he said and bowed his head in gratitude.

"No, thank you Avatar Aang," Hakoda said and bowed in reply.

Aang smiled, then turned and hopped easily up onto Appa's head before helping Katara up next to him. "You travelling by Appa, Sokka?"

"I'll pass this time," Sokka replied. "I think I'm going to check out the ship."

"Oh so the five-course dinner they are having on board has absolutely nothing to do with this decision?" Katara asked with a grin.

"What? No, of course not! Uh…I'd better go, ship's leaving and all," Sokka excused nervously before he raced onto the ship.

Aang chuckled at Sokka's antics, then turned to Katara. "Are you ready?"

Katara took a deep breath and gave an affirmative nod. "Yes."

Aang smiled and turned his gaze to the horizon, holding onto Appa's reins. "Alright, Appa. Yip yip!"

**OoOoOo**

**All aboard the S.S. Kataang~~**

"**Be kind, be happy, be careful wherever you may go" is what my dad always used to say to me when I was a kid. So there's my little shout out to him~ haha. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one will be up soon~ **


	5. The Mysterious Trio

Aang sighed contentedly as he leaned his elbows on the side of the ship. The sun was rising, and a gentle breeze blew across the sea. It was warm enough for him to be wearing a pair of loose pants that cut off at the knees and a piece of orange fabric that tied around his waist and draped over his shoulder.

Sunrise had always been his favourite time of day. Everything was quiet and peaceful and beautiful. Especially now as the sun rose over the water and made everything sparkle.

They'd been traveling on the ship for a week now, and so far it had been a rather pleasant journey. During the day Aang might take Appa out to fly (the flying bison didn't take well to being confined for extended periods of time), and the nights were spent talking and laughing loudly with the crew or exchanging quiet whispers with Katara in their compartment.

It was nice, but Aang was ready for them to arrive at their destination so that their adventure could begin. Luckily for him, they were only a day or so away from the port. Aang smiled to himself as he imagined what was waiting for them…all the possibilities…

"You're up early."

Katara's sleepy voice pulled him from his thoughts and he turned to face her. A smile graced his lips as he gazed upon the bleary-eyed Katara, her hair falling loosely around her shoulders in a gracefully dishevelled mane. "Yeah. I wanted to watch the sun rise."

"It is beautiful," Katara breathed as she stepped forward lightly and rested her head on his shoulder, Aang's arms automatically circling around her.

"We'll be there soon," Aang noted after a while of them standing there quietly.

"Yeah. 'Home', right?" Katar asked with a small smile.

"My home is right here, remember?" Aang laughed and kissed the top of her head.

Katara breathed a laugh and squeezed his arms around her. "What's waiting for us there?"

"Well. We're going to one of the colonies that is going to be at the centre of Republic City. Zuko is already there waiting for us." He sighed happily and smiled as he thought of the bay that was to become Republic City. "I'm so excited, Katara. Republic City…it's more than just a city. It's where people of all backgrounds can come together and live peacefully, in harmony. It's going to be the centre of peace and balance in the world…it's everything I've ever fought for."

Katara looked up at Aang's face, and she could see the hope and joy that was there. Much like reuniting the villages in the South Pole was Katara's dream, Republic City was Aang's dream. She realised just how important this was to him.

"I'm so proud of you, Aang," she said softly.

"I couldn't do any of this without you, you know."

"Good thing you'll always have me then." Aang beamed and leaned down to kiss her gently then continued to hold her.

They stood together watching the sunrise until a loud whistle sounded to signal the end of a crew shift. A few moments after that, Sokka stumbled out of his compartment, rubbing his eyes grumpily.

"What does a guy have to do to get some sleep around here?" he grumbled. "If I never hear that blasted whistle again, it will be too soon. Are we there yet?" he sighed, flopping himself on the railing next to the pair.

"Soon," Aang replied. "We're actually ahead of schedule," he said positively. "Republic city doesn't have a port yet, so we'll have to dock further south. Zuko told me he sent a team to meet us there and help us travel safely."

"Not that we'll need it, eh?" Sokka grinned and flexed his arms.

"Well, we _did _pack quite a lot of stuff, so any amount help is appreciated," Aang said and gave a pointed grin to Katara, who blushed.

The rest of the journey on the ship was smooth sailing for the trio, and in what felt like no time, the crew was preparing to dock the boat. Once the boat had pulled in to port, Aang, Katara and Sokka saw to the unloading of all their things.

"Oh, land, how I've missed you," Sokka said happily as they stepped off the gangplank and onto the dock.

Meanwhile, Aang was helping the crew carry their bags and boxes from the ship and onto awaiting transport wagons. He grunted as he lifted a crate that felt like it contained everything from the kitchen spare the kitchen sink. Small beads of sweat formed on his brow as he slowly made his way to the cart, teetering precariously to and fro. Just as he was about to reach his destination, his foot caught on a loose stone, which sent him flying through the air, the contents of the box crashing around him in a loud din.

"Jeese, twinkletoes, I thought you were supposed to be light on your feet," Aang heard a voice remark dryly from behind him.

_Wait a second…twinkletoes? _He groaned as he pushed himself over onto his backside only to see his old earthbending teacher standing over him, a grin stretching across her lips, and an arm extended to him.

"Toph!" he exclaimed. He accepted her help to get up and instantly engulfed her in a hug. "I can't believe you're really here!"

"Well, someone has got to make sure you make it there in one piece," Toph smirked after she had pried herself away from his embrace.

Katara rounded the corner dragging a bag behind her. "What's going on, Aang? I heard a loud crash…Toph?" Before Toph could do anything about it, she was pulled into yet another hug.

"Oh boy," she muttered as she felt Sokka's footsteps racing towards her and sure enough, within seconds his arms were around her as well. Toph endured the hugs for a few moments more before she swatted them away and wriggled herself out. "Alright, alright, enough with the hugging. I know you're all very happy to see me…I'm happy to see you too," she finished with a brief smile. "But I've got a job to do," she continued seriously.

"Oh _relax_, Toph, you don't have to worry about protecting us. There hasn't been any danger in these parts for years!" Sokka insisted.

Toph frowned, becoming annoyed. "Not until recently." She sighed, "I should probably inform you that within the past few months, there have been numerous bandit attacks along this road. It's made getting supplies from the port to the city damned near impossible."

"Is that the reason for all the, ah…reinforcements?" Katara asked, eying the group of men and women who accompanied Toph. They looked to be firebenders and earthbenders, so Katara figured they were Zuko and Toph's team.

"Oh come on," Sokka scoffed, "bandits are nothing to worry about—why, we've got the original blind bandit right here!"

"This isn't a laughing matter, Sokka," Toph growled. "I've lost some of my best metalbenders on this road. We have no idea what we might be dealing with."

"You don't think…" Katara frowned, "there might be rebels?"

"Could be," Toph shrugged, "they seem pretty intent on interrupting progress in Republic City."

"Hm…" Aang frowned pensively. Naturally after the war ended, there were certain groups who weren't happy with the situation, particularly within the colonies when Aang had promised to extract them from the Earth Kingdom. But Republic City was supposed to fix all that and bring peace…why would anyone want to prevent that from happening?

Aang sighed and shook his head as his mind pulled a blank. "Thanks for filling us in, Toph. We'll be on our guard," he promised.

"That's what I wanted to hear, twinkletoes," Toph said with a nod of approval. "If you've gotten everything off the ship, we might as well head off. Got everything?"

Aang looked around and was happy to see that one of Toph's men had dutifully cleaned up the mess he'd made with the box he dropped. Katara gave the wagons a quick once-over to check that they had everything. "Yep, that's the lot," she said once she was finished.

"Great! Let's get this show on the road," Sokka announced as he clambered up onto one of the wagons then helped pull Toph up next to him.

Aang politely helped Katara onto Appa before he climbed up next to her and took the reigns. "Let's stick to the ground now, buddy," he urged gently.

And they were off. In the lead rode three of Toph's metalbenders, followed by the two wagons it took to carry all of their supplies and baggage, and Appa, Katara and Aang brought up the rear. Three guards flanked them on each side, their faces stony. Katara pressed her lips together and wondered just how serious this bandit problem could be. Zuko and Toph seemed to be taking it pretty seriously.

However, within a few hours of safe travelling, the worries were pretty much out of her mind. Instead, they were replaced by happiness and laughter as she reminisced on old times with Toph, Sokka and Aang. Later she traded places with Sokka to sit with Toph, leaving the two boys clowning around behind them. They could be just like kids sometimes, Katara thought to herself as they started to sing loudly.

Toph looked less than amused.

"So, Toph…any men in your life lately?" Katara asked tentatively.

"I'd rather I keep my personal life to myself, thanks," Toph grumbled, although her face was growing red.

"Sorry, sorry," Katara apologised, holding up her hands defensively. "Just trying to have a little 'girl talk', that's all."

"Yeah well, in case you haven't noticed, I've been pretty busy lately. I don't have time for that…stuff," she muttered, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't," Toph said shortly. She grimaced as the boys behind them came to the crescendo of their song—it was apparently an ancient air nomad song, but Toph could not care less.

They wailed in unison, _"The legendary sky bison of the NIIIIIIIIGHHHHTTTTT—"_

"WILL YOU TWO BE QUIET?" she boomed, spinning around to face them. Aang and Sokka swallowed the rest of the note and blinked at Toph in both surprise and fear. "I wouldn't be surprised if the whole dang forest knew we were here!"

"Sorry," Aang and Sokka said meekly.

Toph rolled her eyes and turned to face forwards again. "And you wonder why I don't date…" she sighed.

"Oh Toph," Katara giggled, "one day you'll find someone just as thick-skinned as you."

Toph smirked. "Clearly it's been too long since you've seen my feet." Before Katara had time to react, she swiftly shoved her foot in her face, which was heavily calloused from never wearing shoes.

Katara grimaced and craned her head away in disgust. "Yeah, ok, you've made your point."

The day progressed without incident until the sun was lowering in the sky, basking the world in an orange glow and casting long shadows on the dirt road through the forest.

"We should probably make camp soon, before it gets dark," Sokka suggested.

"Good idea," Toph replied, agreeing with him for once. She was walking alongside Appa, preferring to be on the ground where she could feel the earth better than up on the wagon.

"Ma'am, there's a river nearby. Might I suggest we head for there?" asked one of the firebenders. Toph nodded in agreement and decided to send a few of the guards ahead on their ostrich horses to set up camp.

Aang stretched his arms out and worked out a few kinks in his neck. Like everyone else, he was eager to relax and get some rest. At least they hadn't run into any trouble today.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Toph came to an abrupt halt and stood completely still in the middle of the road. "What is it, Toph?" Aang asked and stopped Appa.

"Shh…I thought I heard someone. I only felt it for a second, but there was definitely something there." She frowned worriedly and turned to face the trees that lined the edge of the road. Aang hopped down off Appa and stood between Toph and Katara, readying himself into a fighting stance.

"…maybe it was just an animal?" Katara suggested after almost a minute of silent and tense waiting.

"Shh!" Toph hushed insistently. "It's no animal. There is someone—maybe more than one—out there in those woods, I know it…whoever it is, they're light on their feet, it's hard to pinpoint them."

Aang looked keenly through the trees, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever Toph was talking about, but he couldn't see anything. Suddenly, his ears picked up a high-pitched whining noise that rose in pitch until—

_WHOOF_

Aang lost all sense of direction as a huge force erupted from the shadows of the forest. It blew him and his friends off their feet and crashing into the trees behind them. Aang collided into a tree and fell down hard on his front, the force of the impact knocking all of the air out of his chest. Everyone around him was either unconscious or groaning in pain as they slowly came to their senses.

Aang grimaced and lifted his chin off the ground, his head spinning. He looked across the road to the direction from which he thought the attack had come. Through the spots that blinked in his vision, he saw three figures emerge from the shadows, effortlessly hop up onto the wagons and rummage through them. There was something about the way they moved…

"Nothing but towels in this one," a male voice said gruffly.

"Just pots and pans here," another man piped up.

"Damn"—a female voice this time—"Come on, we'd better get out of here, some of them are coming to."

Just as she said this, a burst of flames flew towards the girl. Quickly, she spun around, dispelling the flames into thin air. _A_ _Firebender?_ The mysterious girl began whirling her arms around furiously like a windmill, and although Aang didn't see any fire coming out, the man who had attacked her was suddenly on the ground, crying out in pain.

By now Aang had managed to catch his breath back and was able to push himself up off the ground. As soon as he was on his feet, he charged towards the girl who was perched lithely atop of the wagon and sent a few blasts of air her way.

Aang caught her off guard and she was blown off the wagon, but just before she hit the ground she turned her palm downwards and created a cushion out of air to break her fall. Aang stopped in his tracks, unable to believe what he had just seen.

The girl turned her eyes up to him and Aang found himself transfixed in her stare. There was something about those eyes…something familiar, but completely unknown. The girl was young—she couldn't have been older than eighteen or nineteen—but her eyes were those of a much older person. In the instant that their eyes met, Aang knew that he _had to find out who she was._

And then she ran.

"Wait! Stop! How did you—" Aang cried and tore after her, but she was fast. Unnaturally fast. The two men who were with her sped past him, blowing his robes around him in their wake. "Come back, I just want to talk to you!" He grunted as he thrust his arms up and earthbent a huge wall of earth in their path. But the trio simply sailed right over it, as though it wasn't there at all.

"Appa, come here boy!" Aang called, desperately looking for the sky bison. At his call, Appa crashed down next to him, ready to take off. Aang was about to climb up onto him, when he heard a soft groaning sound nearby.

_Katara._

Aang hesitated, frozen between chasing the mysterious trio and seeing if Katara was ok. _Why am I even thinking about this?_ He thought angrily to himself. He let go of Appa's reigns and turned to where he had heard the sound to see Katara on the ground trying to push herself up.

"Katara!," he breathed and rushed over to her, falling down to his knees by her side. "Katara, are you alright?" he asked worriedly and helped her up into a sitting position, propping her up against him.

Katara coughed and took a few deep breaths. "I'm fine," she said hoarsely, "just winded that's all. What happened? Are you ok?"

"I'm…I'm fine," Aang said and squeezed her hand; although his gaze was turned down the road in the direction the three had disappeared. Who knows how far they would be by now…

"What about everyone else?" Katara asked, pulling Aang's attention back to the present moment.

He looked around the scene of the attack to see everyone shakily getting to their feet as they recovered. Only now did Aang realise that the blast had been strong enough not only to wipe them out, but to reduce a few rows of trees to splinters. The mysterious trio had to be incredibly powerful to manage that kind of destruction.

Then he remembered the firebender who had fought back against them. "There's a man—I think he's injured. Over there," Aang said, pointing to where he saw a body crumpled in a heap at the base of a tree.

"Take me to him, quickly," Katara said urgently.

"Can you stand?" Aang asked as he stood up and helped Katara to her feet.

"I think so. Yes, I'm fine." Katara and Aang rushed over to the man, who was moaning in pain. Katara gasped when she saw that he had cuts all over his body and was bleeding heavily. She crouched down beside him and pulled out her water pouch, determination etched on her face. "You're going to be alright," she promised calmly as she began bending the soothing water over the worst of his cuts.

Aang sighed and stood back, giving her space to work. Sokka and Toph made their way over to him, looking completely bewildered.

"Is everyone alright here?" Toph asked.

"One man is in bad shape. Katara's healing him now," Aang replied.

Sokka groaned and leaned against the side of a wagon, rubbing a sore shoulder. "Man…who _were _those people?" he asked.

Aang's mouth set in a grim line as he processed all that had happened. The blast, the cushion of air, their speed, their agility…there was only one conclusion.

"They were airbenders."


	6. The Aftermath

"For the last time, Aang, they _can't _be airbenders!" Toph exclaimed harshly, slamming her cup down angrily on the table as they ate dinner at camp that night.

In the aftermath of the attack, their main objective was to get back to camp in one piece. Aang and Toph had rounded everyone up and assessed the damage to the wagons before setting off again. Luckily no one else was injured as badly as the firebender, who was carried to camp on Appa with Sokka and Katara as quickly as possible.

Because of all the effort it required to get everyone to camp, Aang hadn't had much time to think about his revelation. But now that they were all sitting around eating dinner, it was all he could think about—and apparently Toph had a few issues with his theory, which she vocalised clearly.

"It's just _not possible_," Toph continued with an exasperated sigh.

"I've got to side with Toph here," Sokka agreed. "The airbenders have all been gone for over a century. It's impossible that _three_ of them would just show up out of nowhere after all this time!"

"You thought the Avatar was gone, didn't you?" Aang retaliated, his voice increasing in volume as he became more frustrated. "You thought all the airbenders were gone, but what am I?"

"You're the _last one,"_ Sokka insisted stubbornly.

"Why is it so hard for you to believe me?" Aang scowled darkly into his bowl, trying to control the anger that he could feel crawling over his skin. He wished Katara was here, maybe she would at least try to support him; however, she was still in the tent tending to the injured firebender.

"Because you're talking like a crazy person! You must have imagined it, or been confused by the blast, or your eyes were playing tricks on you. You were seeing things," Toph argued.

Aang clenched his fists, the anger and frustration in him boiling over. "You're _blind_, what would you know about seeing?" he erupted, standing up from the table.

Toph flinched, feeling the sting of Aang's words. It was only for a second though, because then she quickly covered up whatever hurt was there with anger. "I might be blind, but I can see better than you! _I _don't see things that don't exist! Airbenders don't exist anymore, Aang, your people are GONE."

Aang clenched his teeth, faltering as he was hit with the full force of Toph's words. He couldn't believe Toph could say something so hurtful. He looked at her grimly, his jaw tight.

"I know what I saw."

With that, he turned on his heel and stormed away, wanting to put as much distance between himself and Toph as he could.

Anger still rippled all over him, so he continued walking along the riverbank until the anger subsided into a stabbing ache in the bottom of his stomach. He sat down heavily by the river and brought his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around them.

Why would Toph say something like that? He wasn't crazy; he knew what he had seen. They were airbenders. The more he thought about it, the more sure he became. What did Toph and Sokka know, anyway? The only airbender they had ever seen was him!

But that girl…those eyes…they were a piercing green and filled with some sort of hurt he just couldn't identify. He couldn't get them out of his head…

"Aang?"

Aang gave a start when he heard the small, familiar voice coming from behind him. He quickly wiped at his face, gathering his composure. "Yes? What is it?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly.

Katara sat down next to him, but Aang kept his eyes fixed on a stick that floated in the river. "I heard shouting back at camp. Toph wouldn't tell me what it was about; she told me to come ask you. So…what's going on?" she asked with concern-filled eyes.

Aang sighed and placed his chin on his forearms. "She just…she doesn't understand. She has no idea what it's like to be so…alone."

"Alone? Aang, you're not alone."

"Yes, I am. You, Sokka and Toph, you can all go somewhere and have a pretty good chance that there'll be someone there like you. Someone who looks like you, has the same culture as you, who understands your past. I…I don't have that."

Katara looked at him sadly and put her arm around his shoulders. Even though it had been years since he'd found out he was the last airbender, Katara knew the pain he felt for the loss of his people was something he would carry with him for the rest of his life. He looked like he had more to say, so she remained quiet and waited patiently.

"I know there's nothing we can do about it…but I thought that if there was some hope of finding my people, my best friends would support me, not call me crazy. I know what I saw. I'm sure of it," Aang said, his face hard and serious.

"What _did_ you see?" Katara asked gently. Aang had forgotten that Katara hadn't yet heard his theory. He hesitated, a part of him fearing that she would give him the same reaction as Toph and Sokka. "Come on, you can tell me," she urged, giving him a reassuring squeeze.

Aang sighed and nodded. "Okay. You know those people who attacked us today? I think…I think they were airbenders." He finally turned his eyes up to her to try and read her reaction. She looked surprised at first, but then her expression became more pensive.

Katara furrowed her brow thoughtfully as she took what Aang said into consideration. "What makes you think that?" she asked.

Aang blinked a couple of times in surprise—he'd been expecting her to call him crazy, just like Toph and Sokka had. He realised that they hadn't even asked him _why_ he thought what he did.

"Just some things I noticed," he said, "The way they moved; sometimes it was like they were floating. And the blast itself: it wasn't an explosion—there wasn't any fire. It was air. A single, powerful blast of air…I've never seen anything else like it. And the girl…I _saw_ her airbend, right in front of me."

"There's something else," Katara added slowly once she heard this.

"Something else? What is it?" Aang asked, eying her intently.

"The man I healed. He was covered in cuts, but he said they didn't use any weapons or anything. He said it was like the air around him was slicing him," Katara said with an empathetic shudder.

Aang frowned slightly at this information. "I've never heard of airbending being used that…aggressively."

"If they are airbending at all."

Aang's expression became hurt. "So you don't believe me after all."

"No, no, Aang, I never said I didn't," Katara insisted sincerely. "I'm just trying to keep an open mind about this. None of us know for sure what happened today."

"I suppose you're right," he sighed. "But if there's any chance at all that there are more airbenders out there, I have to hold onto that hope. You understand that, right?"

"Well…we both know how I feel about hope," Katara joked, somewhat lamely, but it managed a small smile out of Aang nonetheless. "Of course I understand," she said more seriously this time. "I just don't want you to forget what's important. I think you really hurt Toph…"

Aang hung his head in shame. "I said some things I shouldn't have said. I was just so…angry."

He thought of what Katara had said about choosing what was important and the moment of hesitation he had when he was deciding whether to chase the bandits or to stay and help his friends. Usually the choice would have been obvious, but that time it hadn't been so easy.

"It's ok to be angry," Katara soothed, gently running her thumb up and down the back of his neck.

Aang sighed, feeling some of the tension leave his body in response to her touch. "Thanks, Katara," he breathed and rested his head on top of hers.

When they returned to camp, everyone had gone to sleep except for a few guards who stayed up on watch. A wave of nostalgia washed over Aang as he remembered sneaking back into camp with Katara after secret late-night swims or forest romps.

"Looks like you'll have to make up with Toph in the morning," Katara whispered.

"Can't wait."

Katara led Aang by the hand to her tent, pulling him in after her. Really, he was supposed to spend the night in his own tent, but who was he to refuse Katara when she looked at him like that?

The next morning, Aang crawled out of his tent (he'd snuck in before anyone was awake) bleary-eyed and not very well rested. He was convinced that every sound and every breeze he heard during the night belonged to the bandits, and when he did eventually fall asleep, his dreams were filled with those piercing eyes.

It was driving him insane; he had so many questions to ask and he knew she had the answers. _Who was she? _If he could only find them again…but it seemed that they were gone—with the wind, as it were. Which left him with a head full of unanswered questions, a rift in the group, and the image of eyes that burned into his mind.

He yawned and stretched, scratching the back of his neck. Across the campsite, Katara crawled out of her tent and give him a shy smile, which he returned as he stifled another yawn.

Toph sat with the guards around the fire, a cup of tea in her hands.  
"Morning, Toph," Aang said as he sat down and poured a cup for himself.

"Ugh," Toph sighed, rolled her eyes and walked away to drink her tea alone under a tree.

Aang groaned and hung his head as the memories of their fight came back to him. He looked up to see Katara giving him a pointed look that said 'fix it'.

He sighed in resignation and walked over to Toph, crouching down in front of her. "Toph?"

"Don't talk to me," she snapped.

Aang frowned, irritated. "Toph, I'm sorry about what I said…but you weren't exactly nice to me either," he reminded her.

"I was just being honest. I know you very well, Aang. Once you get an idea in your head, it's very hard to bring your attention back to the here and now. Back to reality. Especially with an idea like this."

Aang ground his teeth together. Clearly Toph wasn't budging on her opinions regarding the airbenders, but he still didn't want this to come between their friendship.

"But…" Toph continued and sighed. "I shouldn't have said what I said last night. It was uncalled for. I'm sorry," she apologised.

Aang nodded his head, accepting the apology. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to lose my temper like that. You didn't deserve it."

Toph pressed her lips together grimly. "Thanks. But that's not really what I'm worried about."

"Oh?"

"Aang, you have to promise me that you'll put these bandits out of your mind. Right now, Republic City needs you. Zuko needs you, Katara needs you, I need you. Remember everything you're working towards. You can't afford to be…distracted," she said bluntly.

"But Toph—"

"Aang," she said sternly. "You know I'm right. Promise." She held out her hand to him, her pinky finger extended expectantly.

Aang sighed exasperatedly, knowing that a pinky promise was something he couldn't back out of. But, as much as he hated to admit it, Toph was right. "Fine," he grumbled and reluctantly intertwined his pinky finger with hers.

A self-satisfied grin formed on Toph's face: she'd gotten what she wanted.

"But, Toph," Aang said, cutting her enjoyment short, "they're still a threat that really shouldn't be ignored. You said so yourself, they're disrupting progress to Republic City. It _would_ be in the City's best interests for them to be apprehended," he said smoothly.

Toph gave a long-suffering sigh. "I guess I can't argue with myself. Fine. I'll put a team together. But you're having nothing to do with it, understand?" she said firmly.

"Sure, sure, completely," Aang said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Just tell me if you catch them and I'll stay out of your way." He grinned, pleased that, in some small sense, he was getting his way.

"Alright. Deal."

The rest of the morning was spent packing up camp and setting off on their journey once more. Katara seemed pleased that Aang and Toph had made up; a small part of her congratulated herself for having orchestrated it. Things felt better when they were on the road again. For the time being, the mysterious bandits were pushed from Aang's mind and were replaced by thoughts of Republic City.

They made their way through the forest and came to a mountain that overlooked the sea, providing the journey with some spectacular views. Soon enough, Toph made an announcement to the group, shouting over the rumble of the wagons.

"When we round this corner here, you'll catch the first glimpse of Republic City! Not that it matters so much to me, but I'm sure those of you endowed with the gift of sight will get a kick out of it."

Katara beamed excitedly and held on tightly to Aang's arm. "Can you believe it? We're almost there!"

Aang laughed. "And to think, you didn't want to come," he teased, nudging her playfully. Katara ignored the jibe and craned her neck trying to catch a glimpse of the city that lay hidden just around the corner. Suddenly, Aang had an idea.

"Say, Katara…how would you like to get the best view of the city?" Katara looked at him quizzically, and he simply grinned in reply. "Be right back, guys. Appa, Yip yip!"

"Waah!" Katara exclaimed in surprise as Appa suddenly launched into the air with a loud bellow.

Aang laughed and guided Appa up towards the sky. "Close your eyes," he told Katara. They continued to climb upwards until Aang levelled Appa out and faced him towards the bay that hosted Republic City. "Okay. Open them," he said gently and watched her face for her reaction.

Katara knew that Republic City was supposed to be beautiful (Aang sure went on about it enough), but nothing could have prepared her from the wondrous sight that lay before her. Nestled in between snow-capped mountains and lining the sparkling waters of the bay, were the beginnings of Republic City. Clusters of buildings sprung up from the shore of the bay forming a different kind of metropolitan landscape and reflecting the sunlight off their windows. The entire scene was the perfect combination of natural beauty and architectural intrigue. In short: perfection.

"Aang, it's…" she trailed off, unable to find just the right words to describe it.

"I know," Aang beamed. "And we've still got a long way to go. Those clumps of cities used to be fire nation colonies, but soon they're all going to be connected. And we're going to build bridges there, and there, and there…we're big on the whole 'connectedness' thing," he laughed. "Thousands of people are going to migrate here—people of all different nations and backgrounds. It'll be somewhere where anyone can—"

"Belong," Katara finished for him softly.

Aang smiled in agreement. "Belong. Exactly."


	7. Sokka's Story & The Midnight Museum

On the shore of the bay, there stood a magnificent building. It stood only three stories high, but what it lacked in height, it made up for in its impressive area. Before the end of the hundred-year war, it had been a museum that exhibited the rise of the Fire Nation. Statues, weapons and historical artefacts immortalised powerful benders who caused the most spectacular destruction in the war. Works of art and tapestries chronicled the war to educate the young children of the Fire Nation colonies. Of course, these pieces presented the distorted version of history: the version where the Fire Nation was spreading its prosperity to the world, being the benevolent overlords that they were.

After the war, the propaganda-filled museum was repurposed and transformed into the Cultural Museum of Republic City. Its aim was to exhibit the collective history and cultural knowledge of the Four Nations and everyone in between. Its collection was impressive and growing constantly thanks to Mai, who had taken the museum project under her wing with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

Currently, the museum was home not only to historical documents and artefacts, but also to Firelord Zuko and, soon, the Avatar and company.

"Whoa…" Aang breathed as they stepped into the cavernous entrance hall of the museum. "_This_ is where we're staying? Are you sure, Toph?" His voice echoed around the room, reverberating off giant statues of the Four Nations' symbols that stood on each side of the room.

"Pretty sure. Unless I've led you into the wrong building. Happens more often than you'd think," she remarked with a shrug.

"Nope, you've got the right place." An all too familiar voice drifted down from a huge marble staircase.

Aang turned his head to see his former enemy coming down the stairs to greet them, his usually serious expression replaced by a welcoming smile. He was accompanied by his fiancé Mai, who seemed to be smiling too—or did she just have to sneeze?

"Zuko! Mai!" Aang embraced them both happily, then stood back to let Katara do the same. "It's so good to see you," he said once everyone had greeted each other.

"It's good to have you here, Aang. We could really use some Avatar assistance around here. And everyone else's too of course," he added,

"Hey, we just got here," Katara interjected. "At least give us newbies a tour of the city before you put us to work."

Zuko nodded agreeably. "That can be arranged. Suki should be down in a moment, I'm sure she'd like to come."

"Hold on a minute. Did you say Suki is here? As in, _here_ here?" Sokka asked nervously, his complexion turning a strange shade of green.

"Well, she _is _the captain of my security staff so…yeah. She is," Zuko replied. "Is there a problem?"

"Nope. No. No problem at all. I, ah….I just remembered I left something in the wagon. I gotta go." He quickly excused himself before turning on his heel and briskly walking outside.

Toph let out a puff of air, blowing her hair off her face. "I'll go check on him. You take the tour without me, I won't be much help anyway," she said loosely and turned to follow Sokka's trail.

"Is he ok?" Aang asked Katara. "I know he and Suki had some problems a couple years back…"

Katara sighed and shrugged. "He never told me the details. Just that it was over and that was that. They seemed so happy…honestly I have no idea what happened." She turned to look questioningly at Zuko.

"What? You think I know anything about it? I'm as confused as you are; Suki doesn't tell us anything about her personal life," he insisted.

"And with good reason too, seeing you seem to be more than happy to gossip about it." A professional-sounding "Sir" soon followed Suki's accusing tone.

"Suki! I-I didn't see you there," Zuko stammered nervously. Mai observed her future husband, noticing with mild amusement that the tips of his ears were burning red, as they always did when he was awkward or uncomfortable.

"That's why I'm so good at my job, sir," Suki said, quirking an eyebrow.

"And cut it out with the 'sir' stuff, it makes me feel old."

"I'll so my best. Sir," she added with a rebellious grin. "Aang, Katara. Glad you made it," she said, nodding curtly to the pair of them.

"Hey, Suki. Uhm…long time no see," Katara replied. The tension of Sokka's departure still hung thick in the air.

"No Sokka I see," Suki observed and rolled her eyes. "Figures. Good."

"Oh no, he came," Katara assured her, a little irritated by Suki's cold tone. "He and Toph are just taking a walk. He'll be back soon."

"We were actually hoping you'd come with us on a tour of the city," Aang interjected, steering the conversation from any potential land mines. "If you don't mind, of course."

The vexed look on Suki's face softened at the Avatar's request. "Sure. It would be my pleasure. I'll go get a kart ready."

Once she had left, Aang turned to Katara. "Please try to be nice to her. We have no idea what happened between her and Sokka; it wouldn't be fair to treat her unkindly because of it," he pleaded gently.

"All I know is that after coming back from Kiyoshi Island, my brother was a wreck for _months, _and it's all her fault," Katara hissed back defensively.

"She's still our friend," Aang said adamantly. "She's helped us through a lot. Remember she helped your father escape from prison, and she's saved our skin more times than I can count."

Katara sighed reluctantly. "Fine. I'll be civil. But if I find out she really hurt my brother, there will be no mercy," she threatened, and Aang believed her.

"I won't be there to stand in your way, believe me," he promised.

"What were you thinking, hiring her anyway?" Katara asked, glaring accusingly at Zuko.

Mai's eyes narrowed and she came to Zuko's defence. "What happened between Suki and your brother is between them. It's none of our concern. Suki is very good at what she does, regardless of whatever her personal issues might be. _Which_, I will remind you, we don't know the full details of," she said coolly.

Katara fumed silently, clenching and unclenching her fists, which was what signalled Aang that it was time for some evasive manoeuvres. "Well we'd better get going, we don't want to hold up the tour. Uh, Republic City awaits!" He steered Katara towards the door, exchanging a nervous glance with Zuko as they left.

**OoOoOoOo**

"You can't keep walking away forever!"

"Just watch me! I'll walk back to the South Pole!" Sokka threw over his shoulder and increased his pace.

Toph gave a long-suffering sigh and used earthbending to raise the pavement, causing Sokka to trip and fall in a heap. She caught up and stood over him. "Told you."

Sokka scowled and pushed himself up into a sitting position, rubbing sorely at his knee. "That's not fair," he grumbled.

"Tough," Toph shrugged and plopped down next to him. "Now spit it out. What's the deal between you and Suki?"

"I don't want to talk about it," he said gruffly.

"I could just guess. Hmm, let's see. She got tired of your smelly breath? You left the seat up too often? You were lousy in the bedr—"

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you! Just shut up," he muttered bitterly then heaved a sigh and hung his head. Shame marked his expression.

"I….I messed up. I lied to her, I was stupid and I was selfish. I hurt her," he confessed quietly.

Toph tilted her head to the side. This was a Sokka she did not recognise. She never knew his voice to be filled with such shame and guilt. Whatever he'd done, it couldn't have been good. She sighed and crossed her arms. "What did you do, genius?"

Sokka squirmed uncomfortably. He really didn't like being remembering this, let alone telling someone else about it. But he knew Toph wouldn't let it go, and besides she could give some helpful advice.

"Have you heard of the Kyoshi Academy?"

"Kyoshi Academy? It's only the most prestigious martial arts school in the whole world; of course I have! They only accept a handful of students every few years—even I can't get in! And I'm the greatest earthbender in the world!"

"Yeah, yeah I get it, it's a pretty big deal. Well…a few years ago, Suki got in."

"No way."

"Way. It was her dream to go there. But…I just didn't respect that."

Toph bit her lip. "Sokka…what did you do?"

Sokka cringed at the memory but forced himself to go on.

"I was the only one home when the messenger came with her acceptance letter. I opened it, which I know I shouldn't have done, but I just wanted to be prepared to either celebrate with her or cheer her up when she found out the outcome. Anyway, I saw that she was accepted. At first I was so happy for her and couldn't wait for her to come home and let her find out the good news for herself…but then I discovered something else. To go to Kyoshi Academy she would have to leave for four years without any contact with the outside world, at all. And, well…that didn't really fit in with my plan."

"Your…plan?" Toph prompted, although she was wary of whatever was coming.

"That night, I planned to ask her to marry me." He smiled slightly as for a second he imagined he was that man again: young and full of hope for a future with the woman he loved. His face became solemn once more as reality settled in again: he wasn't that man anymore.

"Obviously if she were to go to Kyoshi Academy, that couldn't happen. Everything would change. What if she didn't want me anymore when she came back? What if she forgot me? I…I got scared."

Toph sighed wearily. "And when you get scared, you get stupid."

Sokka grimaced at the truth of her words. "I wrote a letter in reply to her acceptance letter. It said that she appreciated the honour but had to respectfully decline the offer. And then I forged her signature."

Toph gasped. "Sokka, how could you?"

"I don't know. I'm such an idiot!" He clapped his hands to his head in frustration.

"Go on, then. What happened?" Toph pressed.

Sokka sighed, gathering up the nerve to finish his story. "I sent the letter before she got home, so she had no idea that she'd even gotten in. I thought I could act like it never happened. So I proposed to her that night as planned and…she said yes. It should have been the happiest night of my life, but I was so full of guilt I couldn't enjoy it properly. She was so happy though, so I thought that if I just kept pretending, eventually the guilt would go away and we could be happy together."

He rubbed the back of his neck and continued on. "But, of course, she found out eventually. She was…furious, to say the least. And so upset. Kyoshi Academy isn't exactly famous for giving out second chances. I ruined any chance she had of realizing her dream. Last time I saw her, she was packing her bags telling me she was taking the job as Zuko's head of security and that she would never forgive me."

Sokka buried his head in his arms as he came to the conclusion of his story. He didn't want to look at Toph, or anything else for that matter. Although it was a while ago now, the stab of guilt and regret was as potent as ever.

"Sokka, I…for once, I'm just about lost for words."

"See? What am I supposed to do?" he groaned.

Toph chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully. "Do you still love her?"

"I…." he lifted his head to look up at Toph. "Yes. Yes of course I still love her. But after what I did…she hates me. I don't deserve her. I might as well leave; I'll only hurt her by being around."

"Sokka," Toph said firmly. She gripped his arm and fixed her eyes on him. "You have something that many people would _die_ for: a second chance. A chance to make things right. A chance to ask for forgiveness. A chance to be an adult and try to work things out with someone you care about. Do _not_ run away from that."

Sokka blinked owlishly at her. "But…how am I supposed to do that?"

"That's up to you to figure out. There must be something in you that attracted Suki to you in the first place. Show her that you're still that guy. Show her that you're sorry. You might not get her back, but you have to at least try to show her how sorry you are. And if it's meant to be…it will be."

Sokka glanced at Toph, considering what she had said. "That's a pretty romantic sentiment coming from the most unromantic person on the planet," he finally noted.

"I will kick you in the head, I swear," she growled in response.

"That's my girl."

She rolled her eyes. "Sokka, just do yourself a favour and, for once in your life, don't be a complete melon head. Talk to Suki. Grovel if you have to. Either way, you have to try to make up for what you did."

Sokka pressed his lips together, reluctantly accepting that she had a point. "I…I guess you're right. When did you get so smart?"

"It's easy to be smart when you're surrounded by morons." Sokka gave an indignant laugh and shoved her gently. Toph laughed a little. "I am sorry about what happened. I'm here for you if you need anything."

Sokka nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Toph."

Toph shrugged indifferently. "I just don't want to have to deal with your mopey face all the time…and by the way, Sokka, you really are an idiot."

**OoOoOoOo**

"Aang…Aang, wake up."

Katara's voice pulled a reluctant Aang from his sleep. He groaned and knuckled sleep from his eyes, rolling over in the sheets to face her. "What is it? Is everything ok?" he asked groggily. "I was waiting up for you…I must have fallen asleep."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to stay out this late." She gave him a quick apologetic kiss. "I lost track of time talking with the girls and I didn't want to wake you but look at what I have!" She said all this very fast, and Aang had to blink his eyes a few times before he noticed the key she had thrust into his face.

"Um…and what is that exactly?"

"It's Mai's master key! It can get us anywhere in the house, including…the museum!" Katara announced triumphantly, practically bouncing in excitement.

So far in the few days they'd been residents of the museum, they hadn't had time to look at the exhibits. Katara and Aang were both dying to go, but they'd been so busy that the only thing they had energy for after a day's work was collapsing into bed and falling asleep instantly.

Aang's eyes lit up as he looked at the key, his excitement dispelling his drowsiness. "Really? Cool! Wait…you didn't steal it, did you?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

A guilty expression flickered across Katara's face. "Well, um…not exactly. Mai gave it to me so I could get more wine from the cellar and I just, ah, forgot to return it."

"_Oh_ so tonight was a wine night, was it? I see your cheeks are a little red," Aang teased with a grin and waved his hand obnoxiously in front of her face.

"It was Toph's idea," she said dismissively and swatted his hand away. "And I only had two glasses, I'm fine."

"Seems it was enough to give you the courage to come up with this little scheme," he said cheekily.

"What, are you saying I'm not usually rebellious enough?" She arched her eyebrows challengingly.

"Well, I mean, taking your friend's key without permission in order to sneak out with your boyfriend in the dead of night into a museum that isn't even open to the public yet…that's a bit uncharacteristically naughty of you, Katara," he murmured low in his throat, leaning towards her as he spoke.

Next thing she knew Katara was on her back, staring up into Aang's playfully twinkling eyes as he braced himself over her. Her face flushed under his gaze and for a moment, she forgot all about her plan—but only for a moment. "Cut it out, Aang," she snapped when she came back to her senses and shoved him off her.

She stood up off the bed and huffily straightened her clothes, annoyed that she'd almost let him get the better of her and distract her from her objective. "Right now, I'm on a mission. We've wanted to explore the museum since we got here. And we'll be completely alone. So…are you coming or not?" She grinned impishly at him and twirled the cord that was attached to the key around her finger.

"You bet I am."

Aang hopped nimbly off the bed and shrugged an open shirt around his shoulders before following Katara out the door. They were staying in the top floor of the building, which comprised of beautifully decorated rooms and bathrooms, living areas, a dining room and a kitchen. The bottom levels housed several offices, conference rooms and most importantly, the museum.

They padded softly past their friends' rooms, barely registering in their adrenaline-filled state that the light in Sokka's room was turned on. Once they were in the clear and heading down the stairs that led to the museum, they couldn't help but burst into hushed giggles.

"I feel like a teenager again," Aang said giddily.

"Well you were one not six months ago," Katara laughed and kissed his cheek.

"You know what I mean. It's been a while since we've done something so… spontaneous."

"I know—it's been far too long. Come on, this way," she whispered and pulled him by the hand. They came to a steel gate that stretched across the entrance to the museum. "Here goes nothing," she murmured as she slid the key in. The lock opened with a grimace-inducing _clang! _and creaked and groaned terribly as Aang pulled it open.

"They should really put some oil on this thing," he muttered.

"It's so dark, I can't see anything."

"Allow me." Aang promptly conjured a flame in his hand, which created a circle of light around them and threw flickering shadows all over the walls. "M'lady," he said and offered her his arm. Her eyes sparkled in the light of the flame, and shadows hid in the curves and grooves of her body.

"What a gentleman," she replied graciously and took his arm, then allowed him to lead her into the museum.

The museum was split up into exhibits that represented each of the four nations. The exhibits contained thousands of artefacts and pieces that documented the history, important people, and culture of each nation.

First they wandered through the Fire Nation section, where they read about the ancient Sun Warriors and the history of dragons.

"After dragon-hunting became a popular way of proving a warrior's strength, the magnificent creatures regrettably went extinct," Aang read aloud from a sign in front of a case that contained a dragon claw. He exchanged a small smile with Katara, and they both took some pleasure in the knowledge that they were privy to one of the world's best-kept secrets. It was comforting to know that people didn't know everything there was to know about the world. There was always room for mystery.

Of course, just like in history, the Fire Nation's involvement in the hundred-year way could not be omitted from the museum. A replica of a Fire Nation battleship and war armour were on display. Katara couldn't help but cringe when she saw the armour: she associated too many bad memories with the sight of it.

At the exit of the Fire Nation exhibit was a framed letter that Firelord Zuko had sent out across the globe in the aftermath of the war. In the letter he apologised for the actions of his forefathers, and promised the Fire Nation's commitment to restoring peace to the world.

Next they strolled into the Earth Kingdom section ("It looks just like Ba Sing Se in here!") where they saw scale models of Ba Sing Se and Omashu, traditional Earth Kingdom clothing and some stuffed native animals.

Aang was staring into the glassy eye of a saber-tooth moose lion when he heard Katara exclaim "hey it's Toph!" from the other side of the room.

"Toph? Where? What's she doing here?" Aang asked anxiously, whipping around and searching wildly.

"Right here!"

Aang looked over to see Katara standing in front of a wax model of Toph, who was frozen in a powerful attacking stance. Above her, was a sign that read _The Discovery of Metalbending._

"Wow!" Aang breathed as he walked over to admire the wax figure. "This looks amazing. I wonder if Toph knows this is here."

"Her head would swell to twice its size," Katara chuckled. "She really is incredible though. She deserves it."

"Yeah…" Aang said and then added, "hey, let's see if there are any statues of me in here!"

Katara rolled her eyes as she was dragged out of the Earth Kingdom and into the Water Tribe exhibit. "Hey hold on there, Mr. Statue, there's no way we're skipping this one," she insisted and skidded them to a stop.

Aang sighed. "Alright then. But after we're going to look for me." He looked around and saw an object on display. "Hey, what's this thing?" he asked and picked it up curiously.

"Aang, I don't think you're supposed to touch that!" Katara hissed and her eyes darted around wildly as if alarms were about to start going off.

"Relax, there's nobody around. So what is it?"

Katara gave one last cautious glance over he shoulder before she looked. He was holding a long, thin braided piece of fabric that was threaded with wooden beads and pieces of hollowed-out whalebone. "I'm not too sure…" she said with a slight frown as she took it from him to take a better look. "It looks kind of familiar. I think it's…" Realisation dawned upon her face. "Oh! I know. Give me your hand, I'll show you."

Aang held his hand palm-up to her and Katara placed hers on top, lacing their fingers together. She laid the fabric across their wrists and wrapped it around their joined hands in a crossing pattern.

"I'm probably not doing it right. I've only seen it used once," she said and Aang noticed a slight blush tinging her cheeks. Aang stayed quiet and watched her with curious fascination.

"It's used in Water Tribe weddings. An elder wraps the rope around the couple's hands like this—or at least, sort of like this. Then they say these special words and just like that, they're married. But that's not the cool part. The cool part is the beads." She finished wrapping their hands and looked up at a spellbound Aang.

"What do the beads mean?" Aang asked curiously.

"They can mean all kinds of things. The whalebone signifies new beginnings, so that's always the first one. These blue ones show when kids are born. From there it's pretty much up to the couple to add to it whenever something happens in their time together. They tell the couple's story," she finished with a smile.

"That's amazing."

"Yeah. My father still has his and my mother's. It's covered in beads."

"Maybe we'll have one like it someday," Aang said softly.

Katara looked up at him and mirrored his blush. "I…I hope so. Someday." She kissed him gently as she undid the wrap and set it back on its display. "Come on," she breathed when she pulled back. "Let's find your statue."

"We'll definitely find it here," Katara noted as they came to a sign. "Hall of the Avatar," she read. "Sounds promising. Shall we?"

"I kind of wanted to see the Air Nomad exhibit first."

Katara smiled and nodded. "Of course. Let's go."

They walked down the corridor and came to a door that looked exactly like the doors in the air temples that required airbending to be opened. Instinctively, Aang stepped ready back, preparing to send out a blast of air when Katara quickly stopped him. "Aang, I think it's just a replica," she insisted, pulling his arms down.

"…oh. Right, of course," Aang said with a bashful shake of his head. Katara giggled as she pushed the door open and they walked into what looked exactly like a room in an air temple. It was the smallest exhibit they'd seen so far since there really wasn't that much left to display.

"This is…pretty accurate," Aang said, looking around at some of the displays. "Just like I remember it." His voice was tinged with sadness, and Katara gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

Even though he had eventually come to terms with being the last airbender, he still felt the loss of his people on a daily basis. Especially after his run-in with the supposedly airbending bandits, the pain was fresh in his mind.

Remembering where he was, Aang shook his head and quickly gave Katara a bright smile. "Time for me to teach _you_ some things about _my_ people," he said and proceeded to show her and give his own personal stories behind some of the artefacts in the exhibit.

"Check out this horn. The monks would blow it to wake us up in the morning and call us in in the evening. I shall provide a demonstration." Before Katara could stop him, Aang filled his chest with air and blew into the horn, releasing a deafening bellowing sound that rattled the entire room.

Katara cringed and threw her arms over her ears, bracing herself so she wouldn't be toppled over by the force of the blow. When Aang finished and grinned happily to himself, her hair and clothes were completely dishevelled and a shrill ringing pierced her ears.

"Ok there's no way someone didn't hear that. We'd better get out of here before someone comes," she said, still quite shaken, and pulled his hand to lead him out.

"But my statue…"

"It'll have to wait until next time," Katara promised and whipped her head around in alarm as she heard the loud clang of a gate being unlocked. "Come on, let's go!"

Aang allowed Katara to pull him out of the museum. As they left the Air Nomad exhibit, he cast a nostalgic glance over his shoulder. He just missed them so much. But a small part of him knew there was always hope.

**OoOoO**

Sokka was just about ready to turn out his light and go to sleep when the knock came at his door. "Huh?" He raised an eyebrow and set his book down on his bed then headed to answer its call. "Who is it?"

"Lemme in moron, or I'll break this door down." Suki's all-too familiar voice drawled through the door and was followed by a series of limp-sounding thumps. Sokka swallowed, his eyes going wide.

Since their arrival, Sokka had been doing a spectacular job of avoiding any contact with Suki. He did plan on talking to her…eventually. He didn't feel ready just yet, but here she was, banging on his door not giving him a choice.

"Alright, alright, I'll let you in. Just be quiet, you'll wake up the whole building," he said, his lip twitching slightly. He took a deep breath, bracing himself, and pulled the door open. In stumbled Suki, who teetered and turned to look at him, blinking unfocusedly.

"Aand you're drunk," Sokka sighed and rubbed his head. This really wasn't the way he wanted to speak her for the first time in years.

"Don't you tell me what I am. Youdon'tknowme," she slurred.

He couldn't help but give a short laugh. "Uh, yeah, I do. We were together for almost five years; I think I know a thing or two about you. Like how your neck goes red when you're intoxicated."

Suki scowled at him and pulled her top up to obscure her blushing neck. "So I had a couple of drinks with the girls. But I am perfectly—" she hiccupped—"fine."

Sokka bit his lip. "What are you doing here, Suki?"

Suki folded her arms and sat herself down on his couch. "You've been avoiding me ever since you got here. I'm sick of the vanishing act."

Sokka grimaced. So she'd noticed the disappearing act he pulled whenever she entered the room. "I thought you wouldn't want to see me," he mumbled.

"I don't." She sighed loudly and rested her cheek in her palm, scrutinizing him for a few moments. "Your stupid face makes me so mad," she finally said. "I just want to punch it."

Sokka then surprised her by kneeling down in front of her and staring at her with his big, blue eyes. "Then do it. I'm serious, hit me," he said with complete sincerely.

Suki stared down at him, seriously considering his offer. Her hand rose. It was all she'd wanted to for the past two years: just give him a huge slap right across the face. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She sighed as she lowered her hand.

"What you did to me hurt more than any physical attack ever could."

Sokka swallowed and looked up at her. "What can I do to make it up to you? I'll do anything."

Suki glowered at him. "What you did is unforgivable. It's going to take a hell of a lot more than letting me hit you, that's for sure."

"I'm so sorry, Suki."

"Big deal." She blew a raspberry at him and promptly passed out, her head slumping onto her arms.

"Suki?" Sokka arched an eyebrow. "Suki, did you just…oh man."

It was so strange to be in such close proximity to her after all this time. His eyes trailed down to her lips. He couldn't help but remember how those lips had smiled for him, kissed him, whispered words of love to him…but they were out of reach now. They weren't his anymore.

"Suki…" he murmured. He reached up a hand with the intention of tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, but he hesitated and lowered it again. "I will make it up to you. I'll do anything it takes for the sake of your happiness, which is what I should have done years ago," he promised the sleeping form.

With a sigh, he picked her up and carried her over to his bed, where he set her down gently and pulled the covers over her. He let his eyes rest on her for a few moments, then shook his head and lay down on the couch.

In the morning Suki would wake up with a splitting headache and look over to see Sokka lying twisted on the couch, his mouth hanging wide open in a silent snore. She would remember how he always used to take care of her and a tiny smile would threaten to tug at the corners of her mouth.

**OoOoOoOo**

**I originally had this one split into two chapters but I decided to put them together so I could get on with it and post the next chapters sooner. I think y'all are going to enjoy the next ones ;) **

**Thanks for all the positive reviews/alerts/favourites so far; I really appreciate it :) **


	8. Not Alone

It was very early one morning when Aang walked into the kitchen to find Mai, Zuko and Toph huddled around the breakfast table speaking in hushed voices to one another.

"And that's probably where they'll strike," Zuko murmured.

"Where who will strike?" Aang asked, making his presence known. The three conspirators instantly shot bolt upright at the sound of his voice—clearly they were hoping not to be interrupted.

"Oh! Aang, um…good morning. Striking? What striking, no one is striking anyone," Zuko blundered nervously, the tips of his ears flushing immediately.

"Pai shou," Toph said quickly and calmly. She shot a dirty look at Zuko before continuing, "We were talking about Pai Shou. Zuko is playing against his Uncle later this week, so Mai and I were just giving him some pointers. Right, Mai?"

"Exactly. Zuko's really hopeless," Mai said coolly.

"Right…" Aang raised an eyebrow and scanned each of their faces. "Well good luck with that." He made himself a bowl of porridge and took it back out with him, his brow furrowing as soon as he left the room.

Those three weren't being truthful with him; of that he was certain. Something was going on, and Aang had every intention of finding out what.

And that is how Aang found himself gliding high above the clouds, silently pursuing his friends who rode down below him.

Shortly after Aang walked in on them whispering, Toph and Zuko had secretly snuck out of the city with a group of guards. Using the clouds as cover, Aang had followed them on his glider to a small settlement a few hours inland. When they left, Zuko was carrying a large wooden crate. Aang had no idea what it could be, but whatever it was, it had to be important. Why else would Zuko and Toph themselves come out all this way just to retrieve it?

Aang was still puzzling over the contents of the crate when it happened. Out of nowhere, a powerful blast erupted through the forest, throwing Zuko and Toph's crew off their feet.

Aang gasped and swooped down lower to get a better view. Just like the last time, three figures emerged from the trees and headed straight for the package, although this time it seemed that they liked what they saw. One of the men picked it up and they prepared to run away, but just as they turned their backs, Zuko sent a torrent of fire their way.

Aang watched as the other male leapt in front of the girl and put up a shield of air to block the attack. He then sent a series of aggressive attacks that cut through the air towards Zuko.

_There's absolutely no doubt about it. They're airbending, _Aang thought to himself and clenched his teeth as he watched the action.

Toph was up again and sent a powerful slab of earth at one of the men. It connected and he was flung backwards, landing in a heap. Toph then started throwing everything she had at the girl, but she was fast and managed to evade every attack. She was so fast it was like her feet didn't even touch the ground.

Toph hesitated for a moment, looking like she was trying to find her bearings. The girl took this opportunity to send a vicious undercutting gust of air that sent Toph flying backwards. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a ball, which she raised to her mouth briefly then rolled it towards them and it set off another huge blast. The three escaped in the confusion and left in a blaze of dust.

It took everything Aang had in him to stop himself from going down there and helping his friends, but he held himself back. They couldn't know he had followed them, and he also needed to know where the mysterious trio were going. He wouldn't let them get away this time.

He urged his glider on in pursuit of the three, straining to see them as they disappeared and reappeared through the trees. Eventually, it seemed as though they were coming to a stop, so Aang lowered himself down into the trees and followed them to a clearing.

He lightly hopped off his glider and crouched down in some bushes. His eyes widened in anticipation as the trio approached a huge tree. Here, Aang caught his first proper look at the bandits.

There was a broad-shouldered man who was carrying the crate, a tall, athletic looking young man and the girl who was slight in stature but carried herself with the authority of a leader. The strong-looking one had short, thick dark blonde hair and a squashed in nose and square jaw, but his demeanour seemed friendly.

The tall one had a handsome face and jet-black hair that swept over his eyes. Even slouching, he was taller than the others, and he sighed tiredly as they walked into the clearing and leaned against a tree. The girl had a pointed face and the same coloured blonde hair as her companion, which she had tied back into a long braid that hung halfway down her back. The three of them dressed uniformly in black pants and dark green tops that clasped shut off-centre.

"That was a close one," the girl sighed and rounded on the dark-haired boy. "What were you thinking, Sai, weren't you paying attention? That earthbender would have finished you if I hadn't been there," she said harshly.

"Thanks for your concern, Tien, but no I'm not hurt at all," he drawled and rolled his eyes.

The girl, Tien, sighed. "Sorry. Are you alright?"

"Like I said, I'm fine," he said plainly and busied himself picking at a leaf.

"Good. Just….just watch yourself next time," she said tersely and rubbed at her elbow. An awkwardness hung in the air that was broken when the bigger guy holding the crate cleared his throat loudly.

"Could we, ah, get a move on? This is getting heavy."

"Sorry, Ken. Let's get out of here."

Aang watched as she leaned in closely to the enormous tree for just a second and then, all of a sudden, the three of them vanished seemingly into thin air.

Aang blinked his eyes in astonishment, unable to believe what they were telling him. After a few minutes passed and there was no movement from the tree, Aang came out of his hiding spot and approached the tree. He pressed his palms against the wood of its mammoth trunk, just like the girl had, but nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

He ran his hands along the trunk feeling for a button or a lever, but his search was unsuccessful. After a long time of fruitless searching, he sent a tentative gust of wind at the tree, and was unsurprised when the leaves' rustling was his only response.

He sighed and went back to his hiding spot, deciding that patience would be the best course of action. Maybe they would come out again, and then he could try to approach them.

He stayed hidden waiting until the sun had set, but the woods remained as still and silent as ever. Finally, he decided he should head home before people started looking for him. Storing the location of the tree in his memory, he swiftly took off and headed back for Republic City, swearing that he would return until he saw them again.

Which is exactly what he did.

For the next five nights after Katara fell asleep, Aang took off on his glider to sit and wait by the tree, and every night he would return as the sun rose bitterly disappointed.

This meant he wasn't getting nearly as much sleep as he needed, and consequently he spent the days staring open-mouthed like a zombie through meetings or falling asleep whenever he had a spare moment.

Something had to happen soon—he didn't know how long he could keep this up before someone figured out that he was up to something. Already he could see it in the worried looks Katara gave him when she found him asleep face first in his lunch or staring blankly ahead in the bathtub.

But Aang knew he couldn't give up now. Something in his gut told him that if he waited long enough, he would get the answers he craved. He just had to be patient.

On the sixth night, his patience was finally rewarded.

He was almost falling asleep slumped against a tree when he heard some rustling from the clearing. His ears pricked at the sound and he shot up, instantly awake.

He watched as three figures stepped out of the darkness and into the moonlight. Aang's heart thudded in his chest: he knew exactly who they were.

"Ken, you check the booby traps to the North. Sai, you take the South. I'll be planting more to replace the ones that have gone off," Tien said in a serious voice.

"I don't like the idea of splitting up," Sai grumbled.

Tien sighed in exasperation. "It will take forever if we stick together. Just don't be seen and we'll be fine. You can manage that, can't you?"

While they were arguing, Aang psyched himself up to meet them. _Just walk out there and say hi, right? 'Hi. Aang here. I'm an airbender too!' That'll do it._

He took in a deep breath and stepped out from the bushes, his hands raised in surrender to show he didn't pose a threat.

"Hi! Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you—whoa!"

He gasped as an alarmed Tien reflexively sent an aggressive spear of air towards him. He managed to turn himself sideways in time to avoid being skewered, but the attack still managed to catch him on the arm, ripping through his sleeve and cutting into his skin.

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm a friend!" he protested as he dodged attacks from the three of them. Together they sent a powerful blast his way, which he managed to dispel with an air shield just in time.

The three of them pushed off hard from the ground and launched themselves high into the trees, sending strong attacks his way.

The way they attacked was so bizarre and unlike anything Aang had ever seen. It was almost as though they shaped the air currents into a blade that cut through the air. Aang's cut on his arm evidenced that this comparison was quite accurate.

Aang weaved through and deflected the attacks evasively, a nervous bead of sweat forming on his forehead as he felt a blade of air narrowly miss his head. He shot balls of fire at the branches on which they were sitting, causing them to give way and send their occupants crashing towards the ground.

"I don't mean you any harm. I'm—the— Avatar!" Aang exclaimed.

Between his grunted words, Aang raised earth from the ground that wrapped itself around his attackers up to their necks. They grimaced and wriggled around trying to get free, but they were trapped.

Aang let out a breath and took a moment to compose himself and wipe the sweat from his brow.

"I feel like we got off on the wrong foot," he panted, straightening himself out. "My name is Aang," he said and managed to give them a wide, toothy grin.

"Tien…I think he's an airbender. Look at his tattoos," Ken muttered out the side of his mouth.

"That's impossible; they're all dead you moron," she snapped in reply.

"Besides, he's clearly an earthbender. Notice how we're trapped in mounds of _earth_," Sai said and rolled his eyes.

"What about those fireballs, genius? How do you explain that? He's clearly Fire Nation scum," Tien seethed.

"Ah, guys?" Aang interjected tentatively. "I can offer an explanation. As I was trying to say, I'm the Avatar," he announced with a smile.

Tien scoffed. "Yeah right. The Avatar is dead."

Aang raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Have you guys been living under a rock for the past eight years or something?"

"If you're the Avatar, then prove it," Sai challenged, his eyes narrowed.

"Fine. If before wasn't proof enough, here." At Sai's challenge, Aang let out powerful blasts of fire, water and earth, then whipped up an air scooter and sat on it looking at them smugly.

"I think he's telling the truth," Ken whispered to his astounded friends.

"That's right I am. Now I'm going to let you out so we can all talk. No attacking, no running. I just want to talk. Ok?" He gave them all a look before he slowly lowered the earth.

As soon as they were free, they automatically fell into defensive positions, regarding Aang warily. When Aang didn't make a move, Tien lowered her guard and dropped her arms.

Aang let out a sigh of relief and gave them a friendly smile. "See? That wasn't so hard. So…are you guys airbenders?" His question dripped in anticipation.

"I thought that was pretty obvious, what with all the air we attacked you with," Sai said dryly as he dusted some dirt off his sleeve.

Aang's eyes widened in amazement and he barely registered Sai's sarcastic tone. He'd thought that he was the last airbender for so long that he almost couldn't believe it—and yet, here they were standing right in front of him. Airbenders.

Now that his all-important question had been answered, dozens more instantly sprung up in its place.

"How did you survive? Or how did your ancestors survive I should say. Why doesn't anyone else know you're alive? Do you live in the woods? What are you even doing here? How do you make those explosions go off like BOOM?" He rattled his questions off very quickly, and needed to catch his breath when he was done.

There was a moment of silence during which Sai sighed apathetically, Ken looked overwhelmed by Aang's questions, and Tien looked…mad. Her fists clenched and unclenched and her jaw was grit tightly.

"I've got a few questions for you, Avatar." She spat the word like it was dirt in her mouth. "Why have you aligned yourself with the Fire Nation, traitor? Why are you helping them destroy this world? And most importantly, where were you when your people needed you most?"

"I…I…" Aang stammered and gave her a bewildered stare.

"That's what I thought," she said darkly. "Don't come here again, Avatar. We won't be caught off guard next time. Come on, let's go." She grabbed Sai roughly by the collar and before Aang could quite understand what was happening, the pair of them were sprinting off through the forest.

Ken sighed and watched them go, rubbing his neck as he gave Aang an apologetic look. "Listen…Aang, was it?"

"Y-yeah."

"Sorry about Tien. She can be a little, ah…abrasive."

"I just want to get to know you guys. Until tonight, I thought _I _was the last airbender."

"We thought the same about us." Ken sighed and bit his lip as contemplation marked his face. "I'll talk to her. Meet me here tomorrow night after sundown. I'd like to show you some things. I don't know what it is about you, but I like you. I think I can trust you. And I think you can help us."

Aang swallowed and nodded eagerly. "You can trust me. And of course I'll help you; I'll do anything I can. But won't Tien not like that?" he asked hesitantly.

Ken smirked. "Don't worry about Tien. I can deal with my cousin. You just make sure you show up; I'm going out on a limb for you here. Think you can do that?"

"Of course," Aang insisted.

"Great. I'd better get going before Tien gets too impatient. Oh, and Aang?" he said over his shoulder as he turned to leave. "Come alone."

"I will," Aang promised with a solemn nod. Ken shot him a grin and then he too disappeared into the forest.

As Aang flew home that night one thought was running through his mind. It filled him up completely and inspired a few exuberant glider tricks on the way.

_I am not alone._

**OoOoOo**

**Sorry it took a little longer to get this chapter up; things got a little crazy with work and other such nonsense this week. As always, I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and stay tuned for more ^_^**


	9. Lies and Betrayal

Aang swooped in through an open window and padded softly down the hallway, just as he had done on the previous nights. He closed the door gently behind him when he came to his and Katara's room and moved to the corner to put his staff away.

"Aang?" Aang froze immediately as he heard Katara's sleepy voice coming from behind him. "Aang, is that you? Are you awake?"

He slowly turned around to face her, putting on his best innocent face. "Yes, I was just, ah…taking a walk."

Katara sat herself up in bed and rubbed at her eyes. "What are you doing with your glider?" she asked.

"And by walk I meant fly," he amended quickly.

"Ok…" she mumbled and stifled a yawn. "Come back to bed, I'm cold," she mumbled then gave a start. "Oh my goodness, Aang, you're bleeding!"

Aang followed her alarmed gaze to his left arm, which featured a gash that had soaked his ripped sleeve in blood.

He swallowed, wondering how he was supposed to explain that away. "Oh that. I, um…I was attacked! By a swarm of ravenous, deadly eaglebats! Yeah…"

Katara gave him a sceptical look, then sighed and shook her head dismissively. "Just come over here so I can heal you."

"Katara, I'm fine, really—"

"Aang," she said firmly.

With a sigh of resignation, Aang shrugged himself out of his top and sat on the edge of the bed presenting his injury. Using some water from a jug she kept on the bedside table, she began to heal his arm. A cool tingling sensation came over the afflicted area until Katara was finished, leaving his skin as smooth as ever.

Aang gave Katara a smile. "Just like new," he said and flexed his arm experimentally. "I think I'll keep you around." He grinned and leaned in to kiss her, but she turned away. Aang frowned. "What is it?"

Katara chewed on her bottom lip and twisted the sheets in her fingers. "Aang I want you to be honest with me…where have you been going at night?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"I'm not completely clueless, Aang," Katara said with an irritated frown. "I know you've been sneaking around; it's not that hard to figure out. You're tired all the time, and you're not focusing…sometimes it's like you're not even here."

Aang turned away guiltily, unable to look at the hurt that was in her eyes. He hated lying to her, but he felt like he had to protect the airbenders' secret, at least until they trusted him.

"It's just…I'm just stressed, that's all. There's a lot of pressure on me for Republic City to be a success and I just can't handle it. I can't stop thinking and worrying—I can't sleep!" he exclaimed, cringing inside as he felt the lies pile up. "So sometimes I like to take my glider out…it clears my head."

He hung his head and Katara touched his shoulder gently. "Oh, Aang…why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I…I didn't want you to think I was weak. I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Aang…" Katara placed her hands on his cheeks and turned his face towards her. "I could never be disappointed in you, no matter what. I'm so proud of you and of everything you've done. I think you're amazing." She gave him a warm, genuine smile while Aang's heart broke under the weight of his deception.

Still, he returned her smile as convincingly as he could manage. "Thanks, Katara."

"Don't think you can't talk to me about stuff like this—I was really worried about you," she chastised.

"I'm sorry." He rested his head on her shoulder so he wouldn't have to look at her eyes anymore.

"It's ok. Just don't let it happen again." She smiled slightly and kissed the crown of his head. "Now that I think about it, you really have been working too hard. We all have! I mean, we've been in Republic City for what? A few weeks now? And we've barely seen anything outside of this museum and the government building. Tomorrow I'm telling Zuko we're taking a day off—all of us."

Aang glanced up at her curiously. "How are you going to manage that?"

She smirked. "Oh, I have my ways. I can be very persuasive."

**OoOoOo**

"So she just yelled at you until you until you agreed?" Aang asked.

"Pretty much," Zuko shrugged. "Your girlfriend can be really scary, you know that?"

Aang chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I do actually."

"She's right, though. We've all been working pretty hard. I know I could use the day off." Zuko stretched his spine out and cracked his neck for emphasis.

At Katara's insistence, she, Aang, Zuko, Mai, Toph, Sokka and Suki were spending the day at one of the coves that dotted the shoreline near the city. The aim of the day was for everyone to take a break and relax, but Aang felt it might have the opposite effect on him. He couldn't stand lying to everyone, especially Katara, so spending the whole day with them seemed an exhausting prospect. But he had promised himself that he would do his best to enjoy the day, for Katara.

When his feet sunk into the warm sand of the cove, he thought that enjoying himself might be easier than he had originally thought. It was a spectacular day. The sun shone brightly and reflected off the clear blue ocean water. A light breeze blew over his skin and Aang felt like he might be able to make it through.

"Isn't this amazing?" Katara asked, smiling happily at him.

"It really is. Good choice, Katara," he said sincerely. He set down a basket he'd brought with him and unpacked a couple of towels, which he laid out on the sand. He then pulled off his top and sat down on his towel, watching as his friends unpacked.

Zuko and Mai, naturally, sat themselves down underneath a huge umbrella and looked generally dissatisfied with the world. Toph busied herself constructing an impressive sandcastle, which she sat on top of regally. Meanwhile Sokka teetered under a mountain of Suki's things, and was barked orders as he unpacked them for her.

"Don't put the umbrella there, you numbskull!"

"Sorry, Suki!"

At least they were speaking.

Next thing Aang knew, he felt a cold, slimy substance splat onto his head. "Ergh!" he retched and whipped around to see Katara standing over him holding a bowl filled with some sort of whitish goop. "What is that stuff?"

Katara grinned to herself and proceeded to smear the substance on his shoulders. "Remember the last time we went to the beach? You stayed in the sun too long and got completely burnt. Even your head went bright red. This is a little invention of mine that protects you from the sun. I call it 'sun stopper'," she announced with a self-satisfied look on her face.

Aang shuddered as she slathered some onto his back. "It's…gooey. What is it made of?"

Katara pursed her lips. "It's probably best that you don't know," she said with a dismissive smile and finished spreading it on his body. Aang frowned slightly then let it go, deciding that she was probably right: he didn't want to know.

He shivered as she dabbed some onto his stomach. "Did I mention it's cold?"

"Don't be such a baby," Katara giggled and kissed him lightly before she continued her work.

"Would you like some, Mai?" Katara asked once she was finished.

Mai wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten foot pole," she said disdainfully.

"Suit yourself," Katara said with a shrug. "Zuko?"

"Sure, why not?" Zuko agreed with a shrug. Mai gave him a repulsed look, to which he replied, "I have sensitive skin" with a pout.

He took the bowl from Katara and handed it to Mai with a hopeful grin. Mai groaned and reluctantly took the bowl, grimacing as she prepared to rub it on Zuko's back.

Zuko grinned triumphantly and pulled his shirt over his head, revealing a large purple bruise on his ribcage. Aang's eyes widened at the sight, and he figured that the bruise must have come from Zuko's run-in with the bandits. The run-in that he had kept secret from him.

"Gee, Zuko," Aang said casually, "that's some bruise you've got there. How'd you manage that one?"

Zuko coughed at the question but managed to keep his cool. "I was sparring with Toph the other day. She got the drop on me, that's all," he explained nonchalantly. It seemed Toph and Zuko already had a backup story planned.

"Turns out he's not such a big-bad-Firelord after all," Toph added from atop her sandcastle.

"That looks pretty bad, Zuko," Katara said with a concerned frown. "Why didn't you come to me? I could have healed it right up."

Toph quickly interjected before Zuko could blow their story—his ears were already tinging pink. "I forbade him from it. I decided that he should wear the bruise as a reminder of his defeat," she said dramatically.

"Right…" Aang said and exchanged a look with Katara. He decided to drop the subject. Today was supposed to be enjoyed.

He pulled his knees up to his chest and circled his arms around them, scanning his eyes over the beach. Everyone there was either hiding something or lying.

Mai, Toph and Zuko were keeping quiet about whatever was in the crate that was so important; Toph and Zuko were lying about the bandit attack; Aang was not only lying to Toph about breaking his promise, but also to Katara about where he was going at night…and who even knew what was going on between Sokka and Suki? Katara seemed to be the only innocent in all of this.

Katara glanced around, sensing the general low atmosphere, especially from Aang. She'd never seen him so down. Usually by now he would be splashing about in the water or building some sort of sand sculpture, but there he was just sitting on his towel looking totally distant and depressed. She had to do something.

With a determined sigh, she stood up and shimmied her sundress down to her ankles, leaving her in her bathers, then stepped out of it. "So, Aang. Want to leave these beach bums and take a swim?"

"Huh?" Aang blinked up at her and instantly felt his mouth go dry when he saw her. "Uh- yeah, I'll be right in," he said, clearing his throat.

Katara chuckled at his reaction, then turned and rushed towards the water, diving in as soon as she was deep enough. When she resurfaced she felt completely refreshed and free. This was where she felt most at home; here she was in her element…literally.

Aang walked to the water at a more leisurely pace and lazily swam over to Katara who looked completely happy. Her joy was infectious, and he soon found himself the proud owner of a gentle smile.

She reached out for him and he laced his fingers with hers, pulling her into him so her back was against his chest and he rested his head in the crook of her neck. He planted a few kisses there and turned so they were facing their friends on the beach.

"This was a really good idea," he breathed.

"I know," Katara replied with a grin.

Aang let out a chuckle. "Poor Sokka. Look at him." On the beach they saw Suki laying out on a towel while Sokka stood over her, a palm frond in one hand and a drink in the other, which he sporadically held down to her lips whenever she snapped her fingers demandingly.

Katara couldn't help but laugh at her brother's situation. "What is he doing?" she asked incredulously.

"I have absolutely no idea. But it looks like he was the primary offender in whatever happened between them."

Katara sighed. "That moron…and to think I said all those things to Suki. I guess I owe her an apology," she said reluctantly.

"I suppose you do."

"I was really horrible to her, wasn't I?"

"You kind of were."

Katara sighed. "I hate being wrong…"

Aang grinned. "I know."

Katara jabbed at him indignantly and twisted out of his embrace, splashing him playfully. Aang raised a hand to shield his face from the attack and laughed when he saw her poking her tongue out at him. He sighed contentedly and floated on his back, simply enjoying the sensation of drifting in the water. He felt Katara swim up to him and opened one eye to see her eying Zuko, Mai and Toph on the beach.

"Look at those lazy bums, just sitting there." She turned and grinned mischievously at him. "You know what we should do?"

Aang moved himself upright and arched an eyebrow. "I'm listening." She grinned and whispered in his ear, and they exchanged an affirmative nod when the plan was set.

Together they pulled their arms backwards, summoning up a huge wave of water, and then with a forward thrust of their arms, they unleashed the water upon their targets.

Zuko, Toph and Mai were caught completely off guard as the torrent of water hit them full blast. Zuko and Mai were drenched under their umbrella, while Toph found herself buried in her former castle, which was now a pile of sludgy sand.

Mai narrowed her eyes at the pair in the ocean and spat out a mouthful of water. "Waterbenders," she muttered darkly while Toph retched and sputtered sand from her mouth.

"Yes! Got em!" Katara laughed victoriously and hi-fived Aang.

Aang howled with laugher and made a face at them. Part of him swelled with satisfaction, feeling like this was payback for their secrecy. Their little prank put him in high spirits and he swam around with Katara, and later Sokka and Suki for a long time before he dragged himself out of the water, tired and content.

He flopped down on his towel and clasped his hands behind his head with a sigh. His chest rose and fell with each breath, and he couldn't help but feel relaxed as the sun dried his skin.

"Aang?" Katara asked from next to him.

"Hm?" he hummed and squinted his eyes open to see her propped up on her elbows eying him intently.

"I have a little something planned for us tonight. Could you meet me on the roof at sunset?" She bit her lip after she asked the question, almost seeming nervous to hear his reply.

Aang's breath caught in his throat at her proposal. He remembered his meeting with Ken tonight. If he met Katara, he wouldn't be able to make it. He swallowed.

"Sure. I…I'll be there." Another lie to add to his growing list.

Katara's face broke into a wide smile. "Great!" she said happily and leaned over to kiss him lightly. He didn't catch the brief glance she exchanged with Toph before she continued to smile at him.

Aang gave her a wane smile and closed his eyes again while his stomach squirmed with anxiety.

**OoOoOo**

Aang pressed his lips together as he looked out at the sun, which was almost set. His heart sunk with the weight of how much he knew he was going to hurt Katara. But he had to do this.

"I'm so sorry, Katara," he murmured quietly, then turned and swooped out the window.

Katara sighed as the last sliver of the sun disappeared behind the horizon…and Aang still wasn't here. She screwed her eyes shut tight and clenched her fists. The sunset picnic she had set up for them seemed so stupid now in the shadow of his betrayal. She let out a frustrated cry and reached for an apple, which she threw forcefully over the balcony.

"Looks like Aang's a no-show then, as I thought," she heard Toph observe from behind her.

She hastily wiped at tears that she didn't realise had formed as Toph sat down next to her. "I just…I can't believe he would lie to me like this."

Toph placed a hand on Katara's shoulder. "Come on, Katara. You know Aang. He wouldn't keep something from you unless he had to. You two tell each other everything, _literally._ I once walked in on you two chatting about how much you enjoyed brushing your teeth that morning."

"Which makes this hurt even more," Katara sniffed.

Toph sighed. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation behind whatever he's hiding, which we will find out soon enough. A few of my metalbenders are on his tail as we speak, and I'm going to join them soon."

Katara pursed her lips. "I'm coming too."

Toph hesitated before she nodded agreeably. "Ok, you can come. Don't worry, Katara. Before the night is through, we'll know exactly what's going on."

**OoOoOo**

Aang landed silently in the familiar clearing and looked around to find he was alone. A nervous pit formed in his stomach. What if Ken had been lying to him? What if this was all just a trap?

"Hello?" he whispered tentatively into the dark. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. "Ken? Hello?" he called out a little louder this time.

"Shh!" he heard someone hiss from behind him, giving him a fright. "Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you came alone." Ken hopped down from a tree landing lightly in front of him. "Evening," he said pleasantly.

"Evening. So…what did you want to talk to me about?" Aang asked, trying to keep the curiosity from his voice.

Ken glanced over his shoulder and shook his head. "Not here. Come with me." Ken urged Aang to stand in front of the large, mysterious tree with him. "Check this out. Now _this _is cool," he said with a grin.

Aang watched as Ken placed his palms on the tree and leaned his face close to a hole in the bark. He filled his cheeks up with air and seemed to swirl it about, then when he exhaled it came out like a spiral that snaked its way into the bark of the tree. Aang heard a soft click from within the wood, and the next thing he knew, the ground beneath him had given way and he was sliding downwards on his back.

"Aaah!" he yelled out in surprise and before he could have a chance to enjoy the ride, his feet slammed into solid ground and he toppled over onto an earthen floor. "Oof…" he groaned.

As he picked himself up and dusted himself off, he looked around to take in his surroundings.

He was in a dimly lit cavern that had been transformed into a makeshift home. There seemed to be rooms branching off this main one, which contained some cabinets, piles of junk strewn everywhere and a rickety table and some chairs, two of which were occupied by Tien and Sai. Aang could hear an underwater spring gurgling somewhere nearby, and figured the sound was coming from one of the many tunnels that he could see branching off from the cavern.

"It's not much, but it's home. Or something like it," Ken said with a sigh.

"It's unbelievable," Aang breathed. "Did you make this all yourselves?"

Sai snorted. "Do we look like earthbenders to you?"

"Sai, don't be a jerk," Ken scolded. "It belonged to old friends of our family. Back when…" he hesitated as he caught a glowering stare from Tien. "Well, a long time ago," he finished dismissively.

"Oh…I see." The awkwardness in the room was tangible. Ken was trying his best to be hospitable, but Sai and Tien clearly did not want him there—that much was evident. Aang cleared his throat to try and dispel some of the silent tension. "So, uh…which air temple are you guys from? Maybe I knew one of your ancestors," he said conversationally, but faltered when Tien squeaked angrily and shot a furious glare at Ken.

"Oh, oh, sorry, I forgot to tell him," Ken apologised quickly. "Sorry, Aang, I should have let you know before. Tien's agreed for me to show you around but only under the condition that we don't talk about the past," he explained.

"It's not that we don't trust you, but we don't trust you," Tien said coldly.

Aang pressed his lips together. He wasn't used to being mistrusted or disliked, and Tien seemed to _hate _him. It wasn't a good feeling. But he was determined to earn their trust.

"Oh. Ok. No questions about the past then. If you didn't want to talk about the past, what _did_ you want me here for?" Aang asked Ken with a slight frown.

Ken grinned. "Glad you asked, little man," he said and thumped Aang on the back with his enormous hand. "We're here to talk about the future. Right this way, if you please," he said and ushered Aang to a trunk in the middle of the room. He opened the lid and looked at Aang with a pleased smile.

Aang craned his neck to see inside and was met with a strange sight. The trunk was packed full to the brim with devices the likes of which he had never seen before. "What are these?" he asked, confused.

"Sai, get over here and explain your gizmos to Aang. I don't really understand the technical stuff," he said with a wave of his arm.

With a sigh, Sai lazily pushed himself up from his chair and strolled over to the trunk, crouching down next to Aang. "These are a some of my inventions. As the all-powerful Avatar, I'm sure you've never had an issue with this, but some of us mere mortals could sure use an extra 'oomph' in our bending. That's where these babies come in."

He rummaged through the trunk and pulled out a strange device. It was made of two parts: a handle, which Sai held on to, and a large round ring that came up from it. The handle had a small hole in it and a trigger.

Aang tilted his head to the side. "What does it do? How does it work?"

"It amplifies your airbending. First you bend some air into the hole. Then the device circulates the air around the ring faster and faster, building up its destructive energy until you pull the trigger and…boom. You've got to make sure the air inside doesn't get out of control though, otherwise…well, I learned what happens the hard way," he said and indicated a faint scar above his left eyebrow.

"Wow. That's…that's brilliant," Aang remarked, his eyes wide.

"I know," Sai said smugly. Aang's compliment seemed to have won Sai over somewhat, as he continued to exhibit his inventions with more enthusiasm.

"Next we have these little babies." Sai reached in and pulled out a small ball that fit comfortably in the palm of his hand. "Just blow some air in one of these and hey presto, you've got a bomb. I've got heaps of different types. Some can explode as soon as someone steps on them, some send out poisonous spikes, some can make a lot of noise. Just name anything, and I can probably make it into a some sort of bomb," he bragged.

"How about a pineapple?"

"I _did_ say 'anything', didn't I?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aang gave a small laugh. "I never thought airbending could be used like this—so aggressively. Personally I use it mainly for defensive or evasive purposes," Aang said as he looked at the devices.

"I think you can testify to just how effectively they work, Avatar," Tien said, her sudden contribution to the conversation surprising everyone.

Aang glanced up at her standing in the corner and met her eyes—the same eyes that had captured his attention the first time he saw them and haunted him ever since. He swallowed as her stare gave him an unsettling feeling. There was something dangerous inside of her. Something that was angry and hurt.

"Yes, I remember. It's rare that something will knock me off my feet like you did that day. And please…just call me Aang," he insisted, a brief frown flickering across his expression.

"Ah, I knew you looked familiar," Ken said, nodding with recognition. He chuckled to himself. "Man we sure kicked your butt that day."

"It doesn't happen often, believe me," he assured them with a grin.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Avatar," Ken smirked. "So Tien, how about some dessert?" he turned to ask Tien with a hopeful look.

"I'm not your maid; get it yourself. Just because I'm the girl doesn't mean I have to serve you," she scowled.

Aang chuckled. "You and Katara would get along," he said without really thinking.

Tien quirked an eyebrow. "Who's Katara? Does she know you're here?" she added hostilely.

"Katara's my girlfriend…and no. She doesn't know I'm here. I haven't told her a thing," he said, frowning slightly.

"Oh. Ok. Good. Keep it that way," Tien muttered.

"Desseeeeert!" Ken called and Aang looked over to see him carrying a tray with a wide grin. "Care to join us, Aang? I think you'll like this."

Aang got up and made his way over to the table, and his eyes lit up when he saw the four round, black fruits that sat on the tray. "Are those…are those what I think they are?"

Ken grinned. "You bet they are," he said and handed Aang a knife.

Aang took one of the fruits and sliced it in half, beaming when he saw the golden star-shaped seeds that were nestled at its core. "Star fruits!" he cried. "I haven't seen these in years—how did you get them?" he asked excitedly.

"We have a stash that we've kept. It's been a while since we've had a guest, so I thought it was a special enough occasion to delve into it. Dig in, guys," Ken said with a smile.

"Mm, just like I remember it," Aang moaned as he tasted the sweet fruit. "But this was always my favourite part."

He took in a mouthful of seeds and, with the help of some airbending, spat them out at the wall like a machine gun. They stuck into the earth and gave the wall the appearance of the night sky. Aang turned to grin at his companions to find them staring back at him like he was a crazy person.

"What? I did this all the time with my friends when we were kids. Come on, try it."

The three of them exchanged a glance and then Ken shrugged and bit into his fruit and mimicked Aang's display, a new set of star seeds joining Aang's on the wall. He laughed. "Hey, this is pretty fun."

Sai smirked competitively. "Let me try. Check this out." With that he pelted some seeds at the wall and formed them into a shape. It ended up depicting a comical stick figure of a girl emitting stink lines. "Look guys, it's Tien," he chortled.

Tien growled and smacked him hard on the back of the head. "Boys," she muttered and finished her fruit, leaving her own seeds in a neat pile on the table.

Aang stifled his laughter as he finished his own fruit. Even though he hadn't known them for very long, he felt like he was connected to them in a way he couldn't quite explain. He felt like they were the closest thing he could have to family.

But at the same time he couldn't forget about the things they were doing. The robberies, the attacks…they just weren't right. He sighed and rubbed his temple as he took on a more serious demeanour.

"I hate to kill the mood, but there's something I need to talk to you about. Your home and your inventions are all very impressive, but I've got to ask…why? The world is in an era of peace. Why do you need all these weapons? And why are you attacking innocent people?"

Tien thumped her hand on the table, startling everyone, and looked up at Aang, her eyes ablaze with fire.

"Let me tell you something about peace,_ Avatar_," she muttered quietly. "'Peace' is a relative term. Those who are comfortable with their own situations sit on their thrones and declare the world 'peaceful', while the people struggle and suffer. Peace comes from complacency—I am not complacent. I am not satisfied." Her voice rose in volume as her anger grew, hot and dangerous. Sai reached for her arm to try and calm her down, but she shook him off.

"And you talk about 'innocent people'? My mother was innocent. My father was innocent. Did their innocence spare them? As far as I'm concerned, everyone out there is guilty and they all deserve—"

But Aang never found out what Tien thought they deserved because before she could tell him, the ceiling was ripped up from above them.

Aang sprang back and coughed as the air was filled with a cloud of dirt that entered his eyes and lungs. He whipped a current of wind around him that cleared the air and gasped at the sight that met his eyes.

Right where he had been seconds before stood a ring of metalbenders, all in offensive positions. They were circled around Sai, Ken and Tien, who were struggling against metal cables that pinned their arms by their sides and their ankles together.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Aang cried. He lifted up two large pieces of earth from the debris and held them threateningly. "Let them go," he growled.

"Aang, what are you doing? Put those down."

Aang whipped his head around and his jaw dropped when he saw Toph standing behind him with…Katara. He dropped the rocks from the shock of it all.

"Nice job finding the bandits, Twinkletoes," Toph said with a pleased nod. "Even though you did break your promise," she added reprimandingly.

"I trusted you!" Aang heard Ken shout over the commotion.

He looked down at the ground and grit his teeth, unable to find any words to say. He couldn't bring himself to look at anyone. Not at the three airbenders, who were being loaded into a transport on Toph's shouted orders, and certainly not at Katara, who wouldn't look at him either.

He had the feeling his lies would catch up to him eventually, but not like this. Not in this kind of betrayal.

**OoOoOo**

**Reow~ **

**This was one of my favourite chapters to write so far; I'd love to hear what y'all thought of it. **

**Until next time, comrades! **


	10. Honesty is the Best Policy

"How could you betray me? How could you sell me out like that?" Aang yelled as he paced back and forth in the moonlit courtyard of the museum.

"_I_ betrayed you?" Katara asked, flabbergasted. "You were the one sneaking around. You liedto my face!" she cried, wringing her hands.

"You had me followed!" Aang exclaimed. "Don't you trust me?"

Katara scoffed and folded her arms. "Not right now I don't. You were obviously hiding something. What was I supposed to think?"

"You were supposed to trust me. You know I wouldn't keep a secret from you unless I absolutely had to," he said with a hard frown.

"So I was just supposed to blindly believe that you weren't going to get into trouble with whatever the heck you were doing—which, by the way, I don't even understand." She sighed and gave him a hurt look. "What were you doing with those people anyway? Have you forgotten how they attacked us? They're dangerous; you could have gotten hurt. We don't know if we can trust them."

"I trust them. Completely." He sighed in exasperation and sat down on the edge of the water fountain. "They're my people, Katara. They're like me. Despite everything…there is nothing I wouldn't do for them."

Katara bit her lip and flicked her eyes over to him. She felt her anger flicker slightly as she looked at his downhearted expression. "They're really airbenders then?"

Aang nodded with a sigh. "Yeah. And they're incredible. The things they can do…I've never seen anything like it."

"How have they been surviving all this time?" she asked incredulously.

Aang shot her a glare. "I don't know, now do I? I might have found out if I'd been given the chance to get close to them, but you had to go and ruin that, didn't you?" he snapped.

Katara frowned at the sting of his words. "Don't you blame this on me. I was only trying to make sure you were ok. It might surprise you to hear this but you don't always know what you're doing, Mr. all-powerful Avatar," she said mockingly.

Aang scowled and looked down at his hands. As much as he hated to admit it, a small part of him knew she had a point. He had been known to be wrong on more than one occasion…and every time his mistakes got him into trouble, Katara was always there to pull him out.

"I was handling it. I'm fine, aren't I?" he said gruffly and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know if the same can be said about the airbenders. What is Toph going to do to them?" he asked worriedly.

Katara frowned and sat down on the fountain, although a slight distance away from him. "Toph isn't the bad guy here. She's just doing her job; she's trying to keep everyone safe. Aang, they're dangerous. They've attacked and robbed innocents, they've…they've killed people."

Aang winced and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I-I know that they've done bad things. But they're good; I know it. They're scared and hurt, and they're angry above anything else…but I know I can help them. I have to try," he said and looked up at Katara with pleading eyes.

Katara's expression softened and she placed her hand on top of his, stroking it gently with her thumb. "You can't help but want to help them, can you?" she asked softly.

Aang shook his head in reply. "I really can't." He managed a wry laugh. "They've attacked me multiple times, been extremely rude to me and yelled at me, but…in a strange way, I think they're family."

"I guess we don't choose our family," Katara murmured then added, "I certainly didn't choose Sokka." Aang gave a small laugh. "I'm still mad at you," she reminded him and he hung his head.

"You have to know that hurting you was the last of my intentions," he said quietly.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt me, but you still did."

"I'm so, so sorry, Katara. I hated lying to you; it tore me up inside, you have to believe me."

Katara looked carefully into Aang's eyes, which were filled with remorse and sincerity. Finally, she sighed and nodded, accepting his apology. "I believe that you didn't want to lie to me, but that doesn't change that you did. And, as we saw, when you're not honest with me…well. I react." She blushed and fiddled uncomfortably with her dress. It was her turn to be apologetic. "I'm sorry I had you followed. I was just so worried and maybe just a little bit paranoid."

Aang raised an eyebrow. "A little?"

"Ok, a lot," she sighed.

Aang chuckled softly and looked at her with a slight smile. He shuffled closer to her and leaned forwards, closing his eyes, and Katara did the same.

"Aang?" she said just as their lips were about to touch.

"…yes?" Aang asked, frozen where he was.

"Don't ever lie to me again."

"Yes, Ma'am." With that, they closed the gap between their lips and completed their apologies with a gentle kiss. Aang slipped his arm loosely around her waist and eased back, touching his forehead to hers.

He hated when they argued, but he felt a lot better now. At least now he didn't have to lie to her anymore, and he never planned on doing it again after how disastrously this situation had turned out. He understood that she had Toph follow him because she was worried about his safety, but unfortunately it had left them in a bit of a situation with the rogue airbenders.

Aang sighed and rested his head on top of hers, absently stroking her hip with his thumb. "I have to speak to them," he said after a while. "They think I betrayed them."

"I'm so sorry," Katara apologised again. "You'll have to talk to Toph. I have no idea where they're being kept…I was a bit too focused on being mad at you to worry about anything else," she admitted.

"Hm," Aang hummed, his mouth forming a grim line.

"It's going to be fine," she assured him, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'm not so sure. I just hope you're right," he murmured then couldn't help but let out a yawn.

"It's late. How long has it been since you had a full night's sleep?" Katara asked.

"Um…a while."

"Go to bed, Aang," she ordered firmly. "Now's not a good time to see Toph. Talk to her in the morning. We'll figure this mess out then, ok?"

Aang opened his mouth to protest, but a wide yawn came out instead. He realised now how exhausted he was. The combination of sleep deprivation and all of the night's drama had completely wiped him out. He knew Katara was right: he would need a clear head to deal with this.

In the morning Aang found Toph hunched around her bowl of breakfast with dark circles under her eyes.

"Up all night?" Aang asked as he settled into a seat opposite her.

"Mm," she grunted and stuffed some food into her mouth. "Lots of paperwork. As you know, I'm not so good with paperwork," she mumbled with her mouth full.

"Don't you have some subordinate you can dump that kind of stuff onto?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I could, but I wanted to deal with this case myself." She gave a reluctant sigh. "You were right, Aang. They certainly are…special."

"Oh yeah? Special _how_ exactly?" he asked with a slight grin.

"They seem to…somehow…manipulate…air," she said with difficulty.

"Come on, you know what I want to hear," he prompted.

"Alright, alright, they're airbenders. Happy?"

Aang grinned, taking a moment to bask in his righteousness before he took on a more serious expression. "Under normal circumstances, I would be. But that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You have to let them go."

Toph made a face. "Let them go? But we just captured them."

"Yeah, about that, that really shouldn't have happened in the first place."

"But they're criminals. It's kind of my job to apprehend those who break the law. Y'know. Because I'm in law enforcement," she said plainly.

"But can't you just bend the rules? For me?" he asked with his best endearing grin.

Toph frowned. "I could but I'm not going to. Why would I? Have you forgotten what they've done? Even if they are airbenders, they're not good people."

"You don't know them like I do."

"And you don't know them like I do," Toph retorted bleakly.

"What do you mean by that?" Aang asked, feeling she knew something he didn't.

Toph sighed and scratched her head. "It turns out they're wanted criminals in the Earth Kingdom and have been on the run for a long time. They were pretty vague on the details but apparently they've committed some serious crimes against the Earth Kingdom. I've informed the Earth King, and some members of the Dai Li will be here to pick them up within the next few days. I'm sorry, Aang, but my hands are tied. I don't have any authority over the Earth King, you know that."

Aang's eyes widened. "The Dai Li?"

Toph nodded. "Yeah. So it must be serious."

Aang grit his teeth together. "You have to let me talk to them. There's got to be some explanation for all this; maybe they can tell me what happened in the Earth Kingdom and we can try to fix it."

"We've been interrogating them all night. They're not talking," Toph said, an irritated expression crossing her face.

"They'll talk to me," Aang said, determined.

"They think you betrayed them, remember?" Toph pointed out.

Aang grimaced as he was reminded of that. "Thanks for that by the way," he said with a sigh. "I know I can do this. I at least have to try. Toph, we've been friends for a long time now. Please do this for me. Please," he pleaded.

Toph rested her cheek on her palm and thought for a moment before heaving a sigh of defeat. "Alright, alright. It'll give me a chance to take a power nap anyway."

Soon afterwards, Aang found himself being led by a serious-faced guard down some stairs into a dark underground prison. They came to a heavy door, which the guard used metalbending to slide open, then nodded Aang inside.

"Thanks," Aang nodded gratefully and stepped inside, hearing the door slide shut behind him. He took in a deep breath and turned around to see a cell in which sat Sai, Tien and Ken, their arms and legs shackled together to prevent them from bending.

"Guys, I—" he started, his voice faltering as he stepped towards them. "I'm so sorry," he managed.

Slowly they lifted their heads to look at him, and Aang flinched at the resentment and betrayal that burned in their eyes.

"Don't talk to him," Tien commanded sharply and glared at Aang.

Aang swallowed nervously. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I swear."

Tien rolled her eyes. "Save it, traitor. We let you into our home, and in return you just stabbed us in the back. And to think I was starting to like you," she muttered.

Aang raised an eyebrow, wondering where Tien's positive feelings towards him were hidden in amongst the threats and anger.

"I trusted you, Aang," Ken said quietly from the cell. "I guess being an airbender means nothing to you. You betrayed your own people. Looks like history does repeat itself…"

"No I—I didn't!" Aang stammered, a lump forming in his throat. "You have to believe me; I just want to help you!"

"If this is your idea of 'help', I'd hate to see how you treat your real friends," Sai muttered bitterly.

Tien scowled and rounded on Ken. "See what you've done? I wanted nothing to do with him, but then you go ahead and bring him into our home, and now look at where that got us! How stupid can you be?" she hissed.

Ken let out a growl of anger. "What is so wrong with wanting someone else to talk to?" he yelled. "Do you have any idea how _exhausting _it has been to spend every day with you two for the past eight years? You're always either arguing or not speaking to each other because of some stupid argument you had before. It's driving me crazy!" he erupted.

"Hey, living with you isn't so easy either," Sai remarked snippily. "You…you have smelly breath in the morning. And your cooking sucks!"

"Well you—" Ken started but was cut off by Tien.

"Oh for goodness sake, will you two SHUT UP?" she thundered, earning silence from her two companions.

Aang scratched his head awkwardly as he watched them settle into disgruntled silence. After a moment he cleared his throat to tentatively break the silence and approached Tien's cell. "I actually need to ask you a few questions…if you don't mind," he said.

"We do mind. We've had enough questions from your friends," Tien spat.

"I'm sorry," Aang apologised, bowing his head in remorse. "But you have to tell me what is going on. The Dai Li is coming and—"

"The Dai Li?" Tien asked, her face becoming noticeably pale.

"Yes," Aang said with a serious nod.

The three of them exchanged glances and they huddled as closely to the front of the cell as they could. They all suddenly looked very worried.

"Aang, if the Dai Li get us we are in serious trouble," Ken said, swallowing.

Aang frowned worriedly. "You have to tell me what happened in the Earth Kingdom so I can help you. That's the only way I can fix this."

Tien pressed her lips together and shook her head. "You can't fix anything like that. You really want to help us, Avatar? Then help us escape," she said looking straight into his eyes.

Aang swallowed anxiously at her request. "You want me to break you out? I can't do that…"

Tien sighed and rocked back from the bars, turning to face her back to him. "Of course. I knew I couldn't count on you."

"I can't just deceive my friends like that."

"You seemed to do it to us pretty easily," she reminded him sadly. She sighed and shook her head, then slowly turned around to face him. Aang almost gave a start because, for the first time, her face didn't contain the slightest trace of a frown.

"If you help us escape…we'll tell you everything, from the very beginning. I want to trust you, Aang. I really do…Ken's right," she said reluctantly. "We're the last airbenders; we have to stick together. We don't have another choice. If you do this for us, I'll know I can trust you." She sighed again and frowned. "Look, you got us into this mess, now you have to get us out. Please. You can't let the Dai Li take us; we won't stand a chance."

Aang pursed his lips together worriedly. "Where will you go? You can't stay around here."

"To the Eastern Air Temple. It's…it's where our ancestors were from," she said, seemingly reluctant to give Aang this information. But the fact that she told him that seemed to be an act of good faith. "So. Will you help us?" she asked, looking up at him with pleading eyes.

Aang hesitated, then swallowed and nodded. "Yes. Yes, I will. But you have to promise that once you get there, this bandit thing is over. No more thieving, no more attacks, no more weapons," he said firmly.

"We promise. We just want to go home. Right, guys?"

Sai and Ken nodded, mumbling assent.

"We could start over. Aang, you could come with us!" she whispered insistently, a small hopeful smile forming on her lips. It was strange for Aang to see her like this; he couldn't help but notice that she looked quite nice when she smiled. She almost seemed friendly.

"Yeah!" Ken said eagerly. "Just think about it. The four last airbenders together at last. Besides, I'm sick to death of these two. How great would it be?"

Aang frowned sadly. "I…I can't. I've got too much here. I have responsibilities, and people I care about. My life is here, I can't just leave."

"Katara?" Tien asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Katara," Aang stated with a nod. "Among other things. My friends, my duties, even the city itself. They all need me."

"We need you too. Aang, if you break us out, you're not going to be able to stick around here. They'll know it was you."

Aang bit his lip and furrowed his brow deep in thought. She was right. If they escaped, it would be pretty obvious that he was involved. But he couldn't just hand them over to the Dai Li. Judging by their reactions, it seemed they would be in serious trouble. Aang couldn't abandon his own people; not again.

Finally he sighed when he came up with a solution.

"This is what we're going to do. I'll help you escape, and then I'll make sure you get to the Eastern Air Temple in one piece. You'll be safe there. Then once this has all died down a bit, I'll come back and deal with things here."

Tien looked up at him in wary surprise. "You'd take the fall? Just like that?"

Aang shrugged. "It might surprise you to know that I'm actually a pretty decent guy. Besides…I'm the Avatar. How bad could it be?" he said with an optimistic smile.

Tien examined his face for a moment then nodded slowly. "Ok. That sounds like a good plan. You're putting a lot on the line though, I hope you realise that."

"I just want you all to be safe. You're right; I got you into this mess, so I'm going to get you out of it. I just want you to put everything behind you and have a clean slate. Everyone deserves a second chance."

"Thanks, Aang. We really appreciate it," Ken said.

"I do have one request."

"What is it?" Tien asked circumspectly.

"Katara comes with us."

Immediately Tien's face contorted in disapproval. "Not a chance. She'll just get in the way. What if she tells?"

Aang frowned in irritation, not liking the accusations Tien was making. "You don't know her at all, Tien. She's the most trustworthy and loyal person I have ever known. And I can't lie to her again. I don't even want to imagine the pain it will put her through if I just up and disappear. I won't leave her. And I'll have you know she's an extremely powerful master waterbender and healer. She'll be an incredibly valuable asset."

"Fine, fine, she can come," Tien said, rolling her eyes.

Just then they heard noises coming from outside the door.

"Ok, what's the plan?" Ken asked hurriedly.

"Leave it to me, I'll take care of everything. I should go now, but just be ready tonight," he insisted and stood up to leave.

He cast a glance over his shoulder at the three airbenders before knocking on the metal slab so the guard could open it for him. He gave the guard a defeated shake of the head as he left, and headed back to the museum formulating a plan in his mind.

**OoOoOo**

**Phew, a bit dialogue-heavy on this one! But there'll be more action in the next one~**

**I just wanted to say thanks for all the feedback I've been getting. Your reviews and messages really help me out, and a lot of the time I change or add things to the story because of them. So I really appreciate it :) **

**Until next time, folks!**


	11. Plans

As soon as Aang left the airbenders' cells, he set out in search of Katara. He searched the meeting rooms, the common areas in the museum, the kitchen and their room but to no avail. As he headed out towards the gardens, he was stopped in his tracks by a strong arm snapping out from around a corner and catching him in the chest.

"Oof!" Aang gasped as the wind was knocked out of him.

"Hey Twinkletoes," Toph said monotonously as she stepped out in front of him and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Oh, Toph, you sure surprised me," Aang said with a casual laugh.

"How many times have I told you to get your head out of the clouds and be aware of your surroundings?" she smirked.

"I'll try to remember next time, Sifu Toph," he said with a bow.

"See that you do. How did it go with the prisoners? Did you get anything?"

Aang grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. "No, they still don't trust me. They did seem pretty worried to know that the Dai Li were after them, but I didn't get to talk about much else."

"Hm," Toph grunted, the corner of her mouth giving a slight twitch.

Aang shifted uncomfortably in the silence that followed. He wasn't a great liar at the best of times, and this was Toph he was dealing with. There was no way she didn't know he was lying.

"Walk with me, Aang," she finally said and pulled him outside by the elbow. Under the power of her firm grip, Aang had no choice but to follow. "So how did you like the prison facility?" she asked conversationally as they walked.

"Uh…it's pretty ok I guess. Nice and…prisonny," he said lamely.

Toph chuckled shortly. "Sure. Still, it's pretty new though. The guards still haven't worked out all the kinks in the security yet," she said nonchalantly. She arched her eyebrows hintingly at him before she continued.

"Like say, just hypothetically, if someone wanted to break someone out of the lower cells, there's a sewer pipe that runs right underneath them. All they'd have to do would be climb on in there, wade their way through some sludge and they'd come out right near the cells. After that they'd only have to take out a few guards, pick up the prisoners and hey presto, they'd be on their way."

Aang stopped in his tracks as he realised what she was implying. "Toph, I…what are you…"

"I'm just saying, that's what could happen in this purely hypothetical scenario," she said with a shrug; however, she turned and fixed him with a meaningful look.

Aang swallowed as he caught on to what she was implying. "That's very interesting. Uh…you might want to work on fixing that, but it can probably wait until tomorrow," he said just as ambiguously.

"You're probably right. It's not like anything is going to happen," she said with a laugh. "Anyway, weren't you looking for Katara?"

"Huh? Oh, yes I was." Sometimes Aang wondered how Toph seemed to know everything.

"You'd better get going then."

As Aang turned to leave, Toph grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him into a tight embrace. "Watch yourselves. I'll delay the Dai Li as much as I can, but I can't promise anything," she murmured into his ear. She clapped him roughly on the back as she pulled away and gave him a curt nod.

"Thank you so much, Toph. For everything."

"Thanks for what? I didn't say anything," she said aloofly.

Aang smiled and gave her shoulder one last squeeze before he turned on his heel and headed off in search of Katara again, his head spinning with what had just happened.

Aang was glad to finally find Katara sitting under a tree by a creek in the gardens. She was reading a book, her brow creased in concentration. Aang gave a slight smile, immediately feeling more at ease as soon as he saw her.

He plopped himself down on the grass behind her and rested his chin in the crook of her neck, looking over her shoulder as he asked "whatcha reading?"

Katara gave a start at his sudden appearance then smiled. "Oh, Aang, you scared me," she laughed and turned her head to kiss his cheek lightly. "Um…I'm reading about Air Nomads. Did you know sky bison have five stomachs?"

Aang chuckled. "I guess that explains why Appa eats so much. I wonder if Sokka is part sky bison."

Katara giggled and closed the book in her lap, shifting herself around to face him. "How'd it go with Toph? Did you get to see the airbenders?" she asked.

Aang's expression became serious. "That's what I wanted to talk about. You remember our honesty policy?"

Katara gave him a reproachful look. "You haven't broken it already, have you?"

"No, of course not," he insisted, shaking his head. "I just have something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" Katara asked uncertainly.

"Ok. I could beat around the bush with this but I'm just going to say it." Aang took a deep breath. "Tonight I'm breaking the airbenders out of prison and I'm taking them to the Eastern Air Temple so please come with me," he said all in one breath, then smiled in relief. "Hey that felt pretty good."

Katara blinked at him a few times. "Um. Come again?"

Aang deflated as apparently his idea required more explanation.

"The Dai Li are coming for them. They're in some sort of trouble, and I can't just abandon them when they need me. They've promised if I help them escape, they'll never break the law again. I just want to help them get a fresh start, I owe them that much. I won't abandon them," he said, looking at her with determination.

Katara bit her lip slightly as she listened to her boyfriend. "You think they're good?" she asked after mulling things over in her mind for a while.

"I know they are. This is all just a big misunderstanding…we have to help them."

The young waterbender sighed and took Aang's hands in her own. "If you think they're good then…I trust you."

"You-you do?" Aang stammered in surprise. If he was honest with himself, he had to say he'd been expecting some sort of resistance from her.

"You sound surprised," she noted, arching an eyebrow. "But I do trust you. Of course I do!" she said and touched his cheek gently. "Besides, the last time I didn't trust you didn't work out so well, did it?" she added, slightly abashed.

"No, it certainly did not."

"So I'm trusting you on this. But you do know we could get in serious trouble for this, right?"

Aang nodded solemnly. "I do. But I can't just leave them. We'll figure something out. We always do, right?" he asked with a hopeful smile.

Katara nodded with what she hoped was a look that exhibited optimism. "Right."

She could see in his eyes that he was absolutely determined to help his new friends regardless of the price he might have to pay. In a way, that was one of the things she loved about him, but she'd be damned if she was going to let him go without her.

"So you're sure you'll help me?" Aang asked. "I don't know when we're going to be able to come back and it might be dangerous. I mean, not that you're any stranger to danger or that I think you can't handle it but I still worry," he gushed only to be interrupted by a silencing finger Katara held up against his lips.

"Just stop before you hurt yourself. Yes, I am absolutely sure. There's no way I'm staying if you're going—wherever you go, I go. The airbenders are your people, so of course I want to help them too. And besides, I'm going to have to be there to save you when you get into trouble," she said with a slight smirk.

Aang gave a small laugh and nodded. "That's very true."

Katara gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "I'm with you, Aang. All the way," she said determinedly.

Aang exhaled in relief. "I'm glad. I love you so much," he sighed and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly.

"I love you too. That's why I'm doing this."

She tipped her head upwards and looked into his grey eyes for a moment before she eased her lips onto his, her arms making their way around his neck. She swept her tongue across his bottom lip, an invitation that the airbender obligingly accepted.

The sense that everything was about to change lurked around the base of Katara's spine and crawled over her skin. After tonight, nothing would be the same. But right here and right now, she just wanted to be in this moment with Aang. Sitting in his strong embrace, feeling the caress of his hands over her body and listening to his soft moans of pleasure was all she wanted to do or think about right now.

They continued the kiss fervently, both in a way feeling the imminence of coming change. Katara leaned forwards in his lap until his back was against the tree trunk behind him, her knees on either side of his waist. Aang couldn't help but smile into her lips as he kissed her back just as ardently and placed his hands firmly on her hips.

There was certainly no lack of passion in their relationship, but this felt different. There was a hint of urgency that pervaded the kiss; it was as though they were worried they would lose each other, and in a sense this was true. They would never be exactly the same Aang and Katara again, and they were increasingly aware of this fact.

Their faces were flushed and they were panting when they finally separated. Katara lowered her eyes and twisted the fabric of Aang's orange sash in her hands.

"Everything is going to change, isn't it?" she finally asked quietly.

Aang touched a thumb to her cheek. "Not everything. Not the way I feel about you. That will never change," he assured her.

She managed a slight smile. "At least I know I can always depend on that."

"You can," Aang insisted. "Everything will be ok. We always find a way, don't we?"

Katara gazed into his eyes and trusted what she saw there, then shook off her apprehension and took on a bright smile. "Yeah. We do."

"It's just our next adventure."

She nodded affirmatively. "Right. So what's the plan?"

Later that night, Aang pulled on some loose black pants and a dark green long-sleeved shirt that had a black cowl that went around his neck. His bright yellow and orange robes were much too recognisable for this kind of mission. As he bent over to tie the laces of his boots, he glanced over to a similarly dressed Katara, who was filling her skins with water.

"You're sure you want to do this?" he asked, even though she'd made it more than clear that she was.

She looked at him and met his eyes. "Absolutely," she said with a determined nod.

Aang responded with a resolved nod and crossed over to her, taking her arms loosely in his hands and looking into her eyes. "You remember the plan?"

"Yes. I'll distract the guards while you go in and bust the airbenders out. Then you'll meet me and Appa at the outskirts of the city and we'll high-tail it out of here…easy enough, right?"

"Let's just hope nothing goes wrong," Aang replied somewhat nervously.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be Mr. Optimism?" She teased with a positive grin. "Don't be nervous. You always freak out like this and it always turns out fine, doesn't it?" she asked gently.

Aang gave a short laugh. "Like when I went for days without sleeping before the invasion?"

"Exactly. We don't want a repeat of that." She smiled softly at him and gave him a gentle kiss.

"We should go. It's nearly time," Aang said.

Katara nodded and followed Aang out, giving the room one last look before she closed the door behind them. They padded softly down the hallway, and Aang was a few steps ahead before he noticed that Katara had stopped. She was paused outside of Sokka's room, biting her lip slightly as she stared at the door.

Aang sighed and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "He's going to be ok, Katara."

She nodded slowly, swallowing at a lump in her throat. "Yeah, I know. He can take care of himself…I think. I'll still miss him," she said quietly.

"I'll miss him too, and everyone else. But we'll be back soon, don't worry," he assured.

Katara gave her head a slight shake to push away her hesitation and gave him a determined look. "You're right. We have to help your friends. Come on, let's go."

Within minutes, they were creeping silently through the night heading towards the city's prison facility. It was a cool, crisp night and the air was buzzing with electricity. The pair ducked into an alleyway near the prison, keeping to the shadows as they walked down it.

Finally they came to a metal pipe that protruded from the ground. It had a wheel on top of it, which Aang wrenched open with a slight grunt. Katara peered down into the dark pipe and grimaced at the smell that hit her nose.

"Ladies first," Aang said with a grin.

"Ha. I don't think so."

Aang sighed and clambered into the pipe, positioned himself on the rim and held his breath as he slipped into the darkness.


End file.
